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 (D
 9         . POLITICAL
 This is 21st an underlying requ
 Win RoaW an Truth C terian. Theory
 -Ihmeomb
 400302701r(fag WEl RENDAO7JIUYI UJANJWU
 M ClUnew 1166 pp 122
 ,lChspter Aram book -is Defence of Humanism" by
 Wang Ruwhui; Saniian Shudian. 279 pages; transcrip-
 lion of a speech delivered at a forum held in Shanghai on
 15 Aug 1979]
 lText)
 The hssry of    of a swwlII . Shwid Be
 F~Iarpdt Ian to talk about the issue of truth criterion..
 bringing up this issue at the present is of not only domestic
 but also international significance. Marxism has been
 tested in practice for over a century since it was intro-
 duced. How do we look at it now? In the beginning of the
 20th Century. the October revolution won a great victory.
 In the middle of the 20th Century. the Chinese revolution
 also won a great victory. These great events brilliantly
 proved the correctness of Marxism and exerted a far-
 seaching influence in the world. In the 1930's, the reputa-
 tion of the imperialist camp was notorious while the
 influence of the socialist camp was growing among the
 -people of the world who placed hope in the Soviet Union
 and China. However, In the past 20 years or so. things have
 changed. First. the Soviet Union bad problems. Immedi-
 ately alter that. the socialist amp split. There followed 10
 years of turmoil in China. Contrary to what happened on
 this side. capitalism had over 20 years of a "golden W."
 What does this explain? I think perhaps during these years
 Marxist theory has failed to develop along with the devel-
 opment of practice; therefore. it is probably already behind
 the international reality.
 Marxist theory has three parts, and the most detailed one
 is political economy. "Das Kapital" was in line with the
 reality at its time. Later In the imperialist period. things
 were different. In the early 20th Century. Lenin wrote
 "Imperialism. the Highest Stage of Capitalism" and
 thereby solved the problems of that period. Now half a
 century has passed since then. the situation has changed
 ?drastially, and many new situations and phenomena
 have appeared in capitalist development. However,
 may of our comrades still try to understand capitalism
 wily by reading books. Of course. we need to read Marx's
 "Des Kapital" and Lenin's "Imperialism. the Iliglwst
 Stage of Capitalism." but what these bunks depicted
 Approved for It   ase
 Date    AUG 91
 C00042349
 .JPRSSC.AR4$-O.6
 Io Sepleathr I>I~
 were situations in the last century or the early part of this
 ttt:ntury and many changes have occurred since then.
 Although essential and basic contradictions remain the
 same. many situations have indeed changed. Due to
 .-arty years of isolation (resulting first from an imperi-
 ,.list blockade and them from our own dosed-door pol-
 *yL se did not understand the outside world. Due to the
 olation and lack of study. we knew very little about the
 "vie were loo afraid to talk about it Now that our door is
 indeed many contradictions including economic pnth-
 (ems. inflation, and an energy crisis. which gave them
 great headnches. but they are far from dying or rapidl%
 dedining. When a system is dying. it should he tatrl)
 easy-to detect. Even if you are there only for 20 days or
 a month, you tbould be able to rind traces of decline in
 social conditions and the psychological conditions of the
 ,feople. Like Comrade Its Jin said in his novel -Home:-
 A am denouncing a dying system: that system is indeed
 lying (be feudal things are withering one after another.
 '~~    now rarer    ay questions and     WICUIVUUU
 :. Browiag in the fratnwork of capitalist
 s4inle dso reds the aced so think about many iaucs. We .      77~
 I wp
 der if the I.r. ..,    .  .
 +efo
 "3adyaes. from all angles, new phenomena which have
 -appeared in capitalist countries during the past few
 :decades since the introduction of 'imperialism, the
 highest Stage of Capitalism" and gives Marxist answers
 to new questions and on new situations, Of coupe. we do
 not have another Lenin; nor did Chairman Mao write
 such a book. Then what shall we do? I think instead of
 waiting for some talent to show up. we should rely on
 collective power--the collective power of theoretical
 workers--to explore and study and gain new knowledge
 from years of research and discussion. which is also
 developing Marxist political economy.
 Lenin said imperialism was moribund capitalism. He
 even then predicted that the capitalist system was dying.
 Of course. several dacades could also be considered a
 dying period in history. It takes not just one or two
 decades for a system to die; it could take several decades
 or even a century. This is understindable. But the
 question is since Lenin's book "Imperialism. the Highest
 Stage of capitalism." especially since World War II. the
 capitalist economy, in general. has had many crises as
 well as rapid developments. resulting in higher 'living
 standards for workers and a so-called "golden age." How '
 come a dying system has a "golden age?" In addition.   they will be doomed as soon as it explodes. Because. it
 some new capitalist countries have emerged in some
 areas and they are developing very rapidly. For instance.
 Singapore and South Korea are making rapid economic
 progress. This explains that Chairman. Mao's thesis in
 "The Theory of New Democracy" that there could not
 be another Kemal is proved incorrect in practice. Then.
 is it justified to describe the present capitalist world with
 such adjectives as rapidly declining and moribound?
 There are two estimates and based on them we can
 develop two kinds of foreign strategic principles. If we
 think the capitalist system is dying. we should hurry up
 and get prepared for the world revolution. Didn't we use
 to any during the "cultual revolution" that "now is the
 time for imperialism to head to a complete collapse and
 for socialism to head to a world-wide victory?" Lin Biao
 also thought that way. He believed that cities were
 surrounded by rural areas all over the world and he
 wanted to overthrow U.S. imperialist. Soviet revision-
 and and everything else. He was an  ...cute "Leftist."
 Another estimate is that in spite of crises. capitalism still
 has some life in it. I have been abroad only a few times.
 Lam year I went to the United States and saw there were
 n
 r    dpi  ism is
 es
 rr.
 .longer than what Lenin predicted or if it was probably
 loo early for Lenin to say that capitalism was at a dying
 stage. We should be able to study these questions. At that
 lime. it was impossible for Lenin to make accurate
 predictions on certain things. I think Lenin probably
 could not imagine or predict the rapid developments in
 the science. technology. and productive forces of today's
 capitalist world. Take polarization for instance.-Marx
 said in -Da Kapitar that as capitalism develops, there
 will be an increasingly large number of poor proletarians
 on the one side and millionaires on the other. In other
 words. the entire society will be polarised into the shape
 of a gourd-bit on one end. small on the other. and very
 skinny in the middle-and the middle class and petty
 bourgeoisie will be drawn to both ends. What is the
 current situation of capitalist society? There are large
 numbers of middle-class people. Under this circum-
 stance. we should forget about books. proceed strictly
 from reality, and test theory with practice. If a theory
 -contradicts reality. we should revise it. We should never
 distort poets to accommodate theories by saying that the
 peoples of capitalist countries are impoverished, that
 they will rebel any minute. that they are just sitting on a
 powder magazine that will explode any time, and that
 would be unrealistic. American workers strike. too. but
 they are not opposing the capitalist system. They want
 higher wages. We visited the United Auto Workers
 union in Detroit. A union official told us that they were
 willing to -cooperate with capitalists. but capitalists
 refused to cooperate. so they had to right. tie believed
 that everything could be solved through legal struggle
 and he had no intention of overthrowing the capitalist
 system. We'annot just say you American workers ltavt
 such a low level of class consciousness. you are cor-
 rupted. and etc. I think we should do more than make
 critical remarks on this issue. rot it reflects theohjet'ttte
 existence of a.situation; whereas the task of Marxism is
 to reccgaiic facts as they are in an objective manner and
 to answer such questions through Marxist analysis. We
 should not be afraid of such things. Now that our foreign
 iodations have been established and more and more
 people have come in and out of our country, our youth
 begin to have problems, thinking that capitalism is
 superior. In the past these young people did not under-
 stand and thought capitalism was a complete mess. Now
 I =11 --?n
 000042349
 JPRS.CAR-a6-os6
 19 September 19U
 3
 they understand a little about the surface of capitalism.
 but not enough. so they think that capitalism is superior
 and that our socialism in comparison, has failed.
 V61at Is socialism exactly? It was impossible to have a
 -raumplete theory of socialism durintg Mart' time because
 =laid a foundation for scientific socialism. It is
 to say that the theory of sciesilfie socialism is
 ` wmptese because socialism has sat been carried out.
 Mi4Now am there be a complete theory as socialism with-
 +wt * practice? We have tested and developed the
 Theory sough Soviet and Chinese practice
 of socialism
 '? fm the pan several decades. Even today. may
 questions
 ? -   lave yet to be resolved. many objective laws are waiting
 !E-ft be studied and experiences revkwed. As the central
 Wei   at pointed out. we should build a socialism to
 ..wit China's national conditions and develop productive
 forces as soot as possible. This includes absorbing the
 good experiences of other countries.
 This involves the question of how to uphold socialism.
 Fiat, we should understand what is real and what is take
 socialism. Only by thoroughly criticizing the fake social-
 ism of the "Gang of Four" can we uphold real socialism.
 Second. socialism has more than one model. As long as
 the general principle is the same. socialism could be
 atried out in a hundred different ways. Before we only
 knew bow to copy the Soviet Union. We did it because
 the Soviet Union was the only socialist country at the
 time. Later we criticized the Soviet Uaion but we were
 still thinking in the same way. We thought there was only
 one way to achieve socialism no alternatives. Only by
 comparing an one distinguish and recognize. Only after
 comparing our methods with those of other countries
 such as Yugoslavia and Romania did we find out that
 there could be different methods. Therefore, to uphold
 socialism. we should have a clear understanding df these
 issues. This also explains that we cannot uphold social-
 ism unless we emancipate our thinking. Upholding
 socialism does not mean maintaining the status quo and
 copying everything indiscriminately. We should not
 copy the 10 years of the "cultural revolution": nor
 should we copy the 17 years before the "cultural revolu.
 lion." or course. certain things should still be done in
 accordance with the methods used during that 17 years.
 but they are not sufficient. We must create new methods
 so solve new problems. Failing to solve these problems
 will make upholding socialism impossible. Because of
 this, we should not advocate emancipating our thinking
 under the prerequisite of the four upholds. I disagree
 with this view. We should reverse it--only by persisting
 in emancipating thinking can we uphold socialism. You
 say we need to uphold socialism. but what kind of
 socialism? There is no fixed model for socialism. then
 what is the method most suited to China's conditions?
 We should let the public discuss these questions. How
 an they discuss anything if their thinking is not eman-
 cipated? Some erroneous and popular views of the past
 are mistaken for the only way to socialism. For instance.
 socialism does not allow recruits so everybody must be
 assigned under socialism: otherwise. it workers are
 recruited. it would not be socialism. What is this non.
 aerie? For another instance, the planned economy.
 which r'{'also waiting to be studied. may be practiced in
 differ~aaf ways. Only by so doing can we develop the
 dteoty of socialism. How can we develop the theory of
 =socialism if we do not emancipate our thinking? Many
 ,practices coma be continued. Since Stalin's problems
 stopped up. the Soviet Union realized that they could
 not succeed by copying all of Stalin' methods and that
 . tlltey had to make some changes. Chairman Mao also
 seatized this fact and tried to create some new methods.
 as a result. when Chairman Mao criticized dogmatism
 %lfbre the year 1957, he urged us to think before copying
 tike Soviet Union so that we could learn from their
 positive experiences. and draw lessons from their nega-
 live ones. The Soviet Union also changed. They attached
 importance to material incentive or material reward-I
 cannot Had much difference between the meanings of
 these two phrases after consulting with many dictionar-
 ies. The Soviet Union has indeed taken this road. In
 19S8 we put politics in command. Later we engrged in
 class struggle, using it to determine everything; askey
 link. and to promote production. After all these years. if
 we look back and use practice to test the several theories
 which guided us through these years. we would find
 art-we need not to be evasive--that the 10 years of
 turmoil has pushed the national economy to the brink of
 collapse. How can you afford not to review this theory?
 How can you refuse to recognize such a practice?
 Many people at home and abroad say that we have
 turned into "revisionists" and that our line has changed.
 It is true that our line has changed. It was the ultra-left
 guiding ideology that occupied a dominant position
 during the "cultural revolution." How an we afford not
 to change it? But. changing the line is not the same as
 revisionism. In fact. the "revisionist line" is not an
 appropriate term. Why? Revisionism initially was
 referred to the theory of Bernstein and his like. It was a
 theoretical issue. If a theory contradicts the basic tenets
 of Marxism. it is called revisionism. As for the issue of
 line. it is either Left or Right opportunist line: there is no
 revisionist line. The basic tenets of Marxism are univer-
 sal truth which is a criterion for the whole wide world.
 "Revising" "such a criterion is the same as opposing
 Marxism and thus should be objected. We cannot say a
 basic tenet was good yesterday but is no good today
 because it covers a very long period of time. As for the
 line itself. it should change as situations change. We had
 one line for the period of democratic revolution and
 another for the period of socialist revolution. We even
 had different lines for different stages of the socialist
 period. Therefore. the term. the revisionist line. lives
 people an illusion as if there ought to he a permanent line
 that will stay the same forever like "doing everything
 according to existing principles" which was advocated.
 by the "Gang of Four." You have to do everything
 according to existing principles and lines: otherwise. you
 are nwisionists--this is the exact logic Lianjt Xian 127-1.1
 240(ti used in his article carried by live "t it IANt i Mi I Nt i
 RIbAO." It says: After Marx died, Engrl% waged a
 C00042349
 J19108-CAR-1184%
 i9 S&pkmbcr Igo
 struggle against opportunism according to existing prin-   liberation of our thinking because we need to emancipate
 cipks; after Eagels died, Leain followed Marx' and         our yliaking to uphold Marxism and Mao Zcdong
 Fag ls' existing principles` later Win followed Lenin's    Thought; otherwise, we cannot uphold Marxism and
 1ig9 prindpim mad Chairman Mao too followed                Mao Zedoaig Thought.
 ' ..:   fig principles. As a result. our current principles are
 Marx* prtacipks. This is aiksolutely absurd a+seeta-    +lkink that atteryearsofpactice.Chairman Mao's 1957
 ':'+speck on correctly handling contradictions among the
 ift                                                        people has been proved basially correct. Restoring some
 of the them in this speech which have been forgotten
 tin t wean is that socialism still needs to be shaped and -
 Am Is a vast world where much an be aecontpliat-ed by i' gad abandoned is exwdy what we aced to do now. For
 409aace. the phrase that the class struggle has been
 gut tllteoretiat and other workers in ehis field. To do so, ?      y completed is a lng-forgotten sentence and we
 to   chi kin
 Theref   1   gtere
 mtanc
 tt
 ~
 t
 a our  a         ore
 a
 stir
 st
 a comp
 ete
 don. How can there be a complete theory or socialisin
 g.
 tp
 :   ,.
 t
 e
 eVsus
 .
 y               iMave unrict! to mention h spin. There are also some
 Is an scientific basis roe the argument that Chainnaa
 `:                                                           SirtiblemL    ~   same socialist period. first he said
 . .r .?
 i
 .._
 *'~. had
 l
 before socialist construction ii completed? It is ofcourse
 possible for theory to precede practice. but theory could
 not be completed before practice is completed. Do we
 have a complete understanding of capitalism? No, we do
 mot. After -Dos Kapitat" we had to study "Imperialism.
 the Highest Stage of Capitalism." After "Imperialism.
 a sow ww... w.v..,s ..b v.w~~w.. ;.~  j, .,,..,.  ., j, ~.,.?
 daily. These two sentences contradict. If one of them is
 the truth. the other would not be. So it is impossible for
 every sentence to be the truth; neither is it possible for us
 to follow every instruction. Since the tenets of a com-
 plete system usually are-consistent. the inconsistency of-
 tts tenets explains that our understanding of socialist
 construction and revolution has not been completed.
 Chairman Mao urged us in 1962 to understand the realm
 of necessity--the socialist construction of China and we
 have not been able to accomplish it. When did we
 complete our understanding of democratic revolution?
 As far as the theoretical system was concerned. we did
 not set forth the general line for the new democratic
 revolution-namely. a revolution led by the proletariat
 and the masses of people to oppose imperialism, feudal-
 ism. and bureaucratic capitalism-until 1949 right
 before the victory of the democratic revolution. Later in
 the article "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship "
 he was still reviewing this experience, but by that tittle
 the theory was complete because the practice of demo-
 cratic revolution was completed and the theory was
 tested to be correct. Now we have this problem: Some
 instructions contradict others and we cannot follow
 every one of them. What do we do? There is only one
 thing we can do-we resolutely follow those instructions
 which- have been proved correct in practice in accor.
 dance with the criterion of practice. So. quoting a
 sentence from Chairman Mao's 1957 speech-the large-
 scale. violent mass class struggle has been basically
 completed-at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Party
 Central Committee does not mean that we stick to each
 and every instruction. Instead. it means that this instruc-
 tion has been proved correct after over 20 years of
 practice. Why did we not quote other words? We did not
 quote other words because they have not been tested in
 practice. These questions not only concern our attitude
 toward our leaders and political stand but also concern
 the s ucoessand failure and the life and death ofsocialisnt
 the Highest Stage of Capitalism" we bad to study other
 aspects of capitalism. When will we be able to complete
 our understanding of capitalism? After the death of
 capitalism. Only then an we study the whole process of
 birth. development. and death and thereby complete our
 understanding of capitalism. We cannot even complete
 our understanding of capitalism not to mention social-
 ism. Therefore, we must emancipate our thinking to
 develop Marxism. People used to think in the past that
 theoretical issue was only a leader's responsibility. This
 idea came from the Soviet Union and Chinese tradition.
 Each dynasty had a sage such as Yao, Shun. Yu. Tang.
 Wen. Wu. Zhougong. Confucius. and Mencius. Only
 their words can be used for criterion or the "so?alled
 "Confucian Orthodoxy" and other people's words are
 worthless. A theory should be developed by the collective
 including the masses of people and theoretical workers.
 and everybody can make a contribution and help
 develop it. We are all fools, but even a fool can occasion-
 ally hit on a good idea. By adding such ideas together. we
 would be able to improve our theory. For many years we
 were not used to thinking for ourselves; we used to wait
 for the central government and Chairman Mao to say
 something and then we would do whatever Chairman
 Mao. told us to do. Now we cannot rely on them
 anymore. We need to study many teachings of Chairman
 Mao. but there are no ready-made answers to many new
 questions. This forces us to think for ourselves. thus
 bringing life and hope back to our theoretical work.
 There still may be great development in China's theoret-
 ical undertaking.
 Marxism and Mae Zedoag Thought Parch lapirks  in our country. Some people still cannot get over the
 ad Criticisws                                 lingering fear. They say. you are probably right now. Hat
 what happens if there is another "cultural revolution." I
 say, if there is another -cultural revolution," whether or
 I'd like to address another issue: how to treat Marxism not you will he criticired would not constitute an issue
 and Mao Zedong Thought. When we bring up the issue because the issue would he whether or not the nation and
 of the four upholds, we should not set it against the the party will survive.
 C00042349
 lPRS.CAR401-056
 19 September 19*11
 That Marxism permits criticism was originally an ides
 advanced by Chairman Mao in his 1957 Wport on
 contradiction among the people . Chairman Mao said.
 Marxism has been considered as a guiding ideology in
 our country. then can we criticize it?Ofcourse. Marxism
 would be odes if it were afraid I. be criticized. Instead
 of being afraid of criticism. Marxism invites it in order
 to develop during the struggle. In act, the petty boor.
 Reoisie. bottgeoisie.and other people are criticizing
 Marxism era~r day. aren't W. They criticize it every
 day. Some arm Mr criticisms and others are trot. CIa you
 Itio0 diem $MI criticising? No. it is impossible.
 .S We have to 441sliapish between opposing socialism and
 oppotigg Maisistn sad between doubting socialism and
 apposing silllbrn in action. to China. socialism is our
 basic syslam and the evendbdming majority of people
 support it. So you cannot oppose it. Nowadays. some
 ' . young people are confused. They doubt socialism and
 do not understand what socialism is. They thought the
 iron rice bowl and eating from the same big pot 12
 months a year means socialism. What does that have
 anything to do with socialism? They do not know and
 we cannot blame them. We should blame ourselves, for
 we did not do a good job. if you oppose socialism in
 action. like instigating a group of people. founding
 some kind of an organization. or calling on the people
 to overthrow socialism. then, sorry. you would be
 violating the criminal law. it is of course allowed to
 have some doubts about socialism. It is also allowed to
 have some doubts about Marxism. Why can't we have
 doubts about it since Chairman Mao said it was Okay
 to criticize It? We should distinguish between party and
 non-party members. If a party member says I don't
 believe in Marxism or Mao Zedong Thought at all. we
 should ask: Why did you join the party? It is not strange
 for the masses outside the party to have different kinds
 of thinking. We should use a proletarian world outlook
 to educate and reform them. which is a long-term task.
 All non-proletarian thinkings including the anti-
 Marxist thinking will exist for a long time to come. We
 should educate or criticize people with such thoughts
 but we cannot prohibit such thoughm according to
 Chairman Mao. What can we do about the anti-Marxist
 thinking? If our enemies have such thoughts. it will be
 easy-just forbid their talking. What happens if it is one
 of our people? We can only let him talk first and then
 educate and criticize him by reasoning with and talking
 so him.
 Therefore. first. we should not be afraid of criticism;
 second. we cannot possibly stop them from criticizing:
 and third we should permit criticism. Is criticism good or
 bad to Marxism? It is pod. Many people are scared to
 death as if allowing criticism could damage our stand
 and Mao Zedong Thought. i say Chairman Mao himself
 thought differently. He said: Marxism develops during
 the process of a struggle and it stops when people stop
 criticizing. To prevent Marxism from turning into dog-
 matism. an important measure is to allow a hundred
 schools to contend.
 13 .                         POLITICAL
 I can tell you something else. in April 1957. 1 met
 Chairman Mao and heard him say face to face that
 Marxism including the bask tenets of Marxism. permits
 criticism. He said it did not wand good to say it is Okay
 so criticize the iittdividuel theories of Marxism but not
 the basic      of Marxism. So. when he wrote his
 speech. he just said in a general term that Marxism can
 -use criticized.
 Amt. we did not follow his instruction. Later at a propa-
 janda work conference. someone said that a hundred
 schools referred to only two schools-capitalist and
 proletarian. An confusing the issue of avowing a hun-
 __plyd schools to=atend. All thinkings were categorized
 into either bourgeois or proletarian. In other words. if
 were not bougeois. You mast be proletarian. What
 lym belonged to the bow p~. Everything that was wrong.
 is if the proletarian ideology was so pure that it could not
 .as
 any mistake at all whereas the bourgeoisie had all
 the mistakes. As a result. every ideology was labeled.
 This practice may be traced further back to "The Theory
 of Practice" where there was a sentence saying that all
 ideologies were stamped with the brand of a class. Of
 course many ideologies were stamped with the brand of
 a clasm but does every ideology have a class nature? Later
 during the "Gnat Cultural Revolution." this sentence
 became the basis for the theory of blood relationship.
 You were branded with a dais as soon as you were born.
 The brands of certain classes were especially deep. such
 as the "son ofa bitch" dart and the four black categories.
 The several red categories were also branded with a class
 which was born red. These brands of classes could never
 be erased. Can we categorize all ideologies into either
 bourgeois or proletarian? Many ideologies have a class
 nature but many don't. What kind of a class nature does
 the thinking of natural science such as Einstein's theory
 of relativity have? What class does social science such as
 Morgan's ancient sociology belong to? Another question
 Is: Are there only two classes? Can landlords be consid-
 ered a class? Can farmers and small producers be con-
 sidered a class? How about the petty bourgeoisie in
 urban areas? How come we only singled out the hour-
 gcoisie? Since only two classes were noticed, someone
 later put forward the slogan of eliminating bourgeois
 ideology and fostering proletarian ideology as if on the
 ideological front all we had to fight was only one bour-
 geois ideology. When did we criticize the influence of
 feudalism and petty production over all these years?
 Never. In fact, we saw that feudal influence was much
 greater and worse than bourgeois influence. What we did
 was let slip by the thinkings of the 1. ?xlknd class and
 feudalism. As a result. feudal thinking merged during
 the criticism of the bourgeoisie. For instance. during the
 "Great Cultural Revolution" women were not allowed
 to wear skirts or braids. I also saw a big-character poster
 opposing men and women swimming together and say-
 ing that women's swimsuits looked ridiculous in the
 pool. I think in the past 20 years we have failed to raise
 antideudalism to a proper level on our ideological front.
 The fact that the government work report at this people's
 congress mentioned the issue of anti-feudalism indicates
 C00042349
 JPRS-CA249-os6
 19 SeliEearier 193e                             14
 Bleat progress, As I mentioned before. someone at a
 ptapapthda wale txmfent nc~e said that a hundred schools
 trelierted to truly two schools, which was howeverehanged
 in the "May 16 Circular," Originally we were told that
 various erroneous thinkings among the people should be
 fft.wlk weld iced and corrected through persuaaoa and teason-
 safived by holding one ore two l they
 'altsMld be solved by presenting the bets and reasoning
 ddW out. later. the "May 16 Circular" ariticized the
 view that everybody is equal before the truth. In other
 ...~ b ye asp   d 1d~tha    yproletari~at
 ods exercise dictatorship over do bourgeoisie is the sphere
 afsttpetstrtrcthnre in cl ding the ideological shphere. Such a
 l
 s to
 dtctatotsltsp mace it lmpo ouUm nor a hundred schoo
 ~ottlad. 'Deere ore. a hundred schools contending
 became two schools contending. which later became one
 school singing solo. What was the last school? Was it
 Marxism? No. It was the school of Lis Dino and the
 "Gang of Four."
 The movement of combating and preventing revision.
 ism originally was to oppose changing the basic tenets of
 Marxism. Later. it turned into a movement to establish
 absolute authority fora leader and ensuring that China
 will new change its politics] color also became a means
 to establish a leader's absolute authority. Every word this
 authority said was absolutely correct and did not need to
 be tested through practice. Whoever criticized or vio-
 lated some of his words beibre or after he died would be
 likened to Khruschev. accused of opposing Mao Zedong
 Thought. and considered a bad guy to be punished by the
 whole party and nation. As a result. in the process of
 combating and preventing revisionism. a personality cult
 pined ground. In 1956, we drew lessons from Soviet
 experiences and wrote an article. "On the Historical
 Experience of Proletarian Dictatorship," to criticize Sta-
 lin's personality cult. which was the right thing to do. In
 the report to the Eighth National People's Congress on
 the amendment of the Party Constitution. Comrade
 Deng Xiaoping said there was a reflection of a personal-
 ity cult inside our party. Later, this view was changed.
 On the issue of Stalin. the second criticism of the "Nine
 Criticisms," which was adapted from the speech of a
 certain "adviser." never even mentioned the mistakes of
 his personality cult. Instead. it said criticizing personal-
 ity cult was completely wrong for it violated Lenin's
 theories on the masses, class. political parties. and lead-
 em thus paving the way for the development of a
 personality cult and resulting in serious and disastrous
 consequences. These views all violated the criterion of
 lath. Latin's teachings on the masses, class. political
 parties, and leaden is that the masses are of different
 classes, the party represents classes. and leaders repre-
 sent the party. It is true that leaden represent the party.
 dosses, and the masses. but we cannot my that every-
 thing a leader does must represent the masses. that
 believing in leaders means believing in the muses. and
 that the personality cult does not exist. Leaders can also
 depart from the people; therefore. not every word and
 deed of leaden absolutely, undoubtedly conform to the
 people's interests. Leaders sometimes can make mis-
 takes. Chairman Mao himself once said: "No party or
 person an~~brd making mistakes." Un Biao advocated
 that "everytt>hing Chairman Mao said is the truth." I'd
 like to ask him: lsn't this remark of Chairman Mao also
 the truth? Chairman Mao said no one, Including himself
 oaf course. con avoid commiting mistakes. This remark
 most also be the truth if whatever Chairman Mao said is
 4he troth as Lis Biao advocated. However. if this remark
 is the truth, "whatever he said is the truth" would
 become impossible. Due to many years of propaganda.
 this view has been ingmined: therefore. trying to set
 . thins right. solving these problems. and emancipating
 our thinking has become a very arduous task. This
 requires a certain process. Of course. we should also
 realize and notice that some people oppose our efforts to
 at things right because they ate on the side of the "Gang
 of Four." But a large number of masses have no bad
 intention. They are against the "Gang of Four." but
 since they have had too much of this propaganda and
 have not paid much attention.. to their political-study-__
 they resent what we are trying to do now. Our RENMIN
 RiRAO has received many letters. especially from PLA
 soldiers, protesting: Don't attack people here and there
 by innuendo and stop doing such things. These comrades
 are food comrades. They do not necessarily think that
 Chairman Mao had made no mistakes. It is just that they
 can not accept this psychologically. We need to carry out
 propaganda steadily. Propaganda needs discipline. but
 what kind? It is very hard to say. It is a process. We
 cannot say certain things during a certain period; but
 after a while. it will be all right. Maybe we cannot say this
 today. but we will be able to say it after a certain period.
 Therefore. we need to advance steadily and help some
 people by working with them to change their thinking.
 but never hurt their feelings.
 We should advance steadily not only to propaganda but
 also in all fields including democratic and reform issues.
 Old bad practices die hard. We now have so many
 problems which are forming not a pile but a mountain.
 So. when we sort out these problems, we can only work at
 a steady pace. We should not vacillate. Vacillation is no
 good. Don't vacillate, advance steadily. This is why we
 cannot discuss certain things now but we will be able to
 after a while. Take the issue of sham leftist and real
 rightist, for example. Some people say that this still has
 not been corrected. and I agree. When an article on this
 issue was first published, it was risky to talk about an
 issue which was considered a forbidden zone. Chairman
 Mao said himself that Un Biao was an extreme rightist.
 The only way to indicate sham leftist, real rightist was by
 placing quotation- marks around the word "leftist. " You
 now say be was an extreme leftist. so now an unquoted
 leftist has come to mean sham, and a quoted "leftist"
 means real. Later after the situation developed. it was all
 Might to talk about the extreme leftist line. Therefore.
 Wings are developing and ideologial liberation requires
 a process. Eliminating the forbidden none also requires a
 process. For instance, the Liu Shangi forbidden ,one has
 000042349
 JPRS-CAR..U-056
 _! September 1911                             Is                                POLITICAL
 Barra may in we past taming about snstgs like taking the   privsseges should be eliminated.
 ' t $m us gibe or Ibis and that as the key fink. So based on             ; ...     ,. .
 Alas saint. their thinking is conservative. There are :-m.        ..a <...... <r~.:.L...IP...~*.<.~ w~ -u .s :.   - __-
 their tbtitkaagr. In a corrals sscnse. their thinking is             p he servants IIato the people's masters. The Paris
 hill alder the pernicious MIluence of the altra4cltist -C immune bad two methods: one is general election and
 Inking .. ?.    ii of the''Gaag of Four." la amber,sense. dteir Ike other. the low-wage systesn. The low-wage system.
 is lyging behind the situation. The siilual on   wider which leaden are paid the same amount of wage as
 Ofthe man think the saute way. What do you thik So pt+evenI hstders fmm changing fm n the people's
 Why are there so many ass to be nedmsed? A large      rrinciple of the Paris Commune we concentrate on how
 b be eliminated sooner or later and it will involve even Commune. people like Yao Weayuan and Chen Hods
 .... -      auI u .ww pala.w wt. %PM UComsrtsa er:
 %slto emphasizes uroggie, excessive straggle, is a
 one who lacks the spirit of struggle is a rightist.
 :J adberdiefinition is: One who does things which should
 be done in the future. ping too far. is called a "leftist".
 one who refuses to do things which should have been
 done and stays in the past is called a "rightist "Although
 practice ailed t wo nge ? many people with ossified thinking
 Mve        change their thinking along with the
 change of practice. so in this sense they are considered as
 conservatives who have fallen behind.
 The Issue of Saciaist Democracy Shield Be Ress lead
 Many socialist countries have not yet resolved this issue.
 Failure to resolve this issue has caused many problems
 for the Soviet Union. What about us? We have not
 resolved it either. We always thought democracy was an
 issue of work style. For many rears we advertised:
 bludgeoning and putting labels on people. and heed the
 opinions of the masses. We thought this was what
 democracy was all about. It is of course democracy but
 the major meaning of democracy should not be limited
 to this area. This formulation is to urge leaders to heed
 allow them to express their opinions. Acceding to this
 Due to the deep influence of feudal ideology. our discus-
 sion of democracy has been limited to how leaders
 nbould understand the people. An upright feudal official
 Mien' advice. Of course we hope that leaders are like
 this, but the question is what do we do if they aren't.
 Nothing. Now we have to correct this misunderstanding.
 First, democracy is the system of a country under which
 the people have the right not only to criticize but also to
 the congress, representatives- criticized state leaders by
 denied. Many representatives responded to the issue of
 discussed the principle and experience or the Paris
 liberation. there is always a fight and many things
 remand of its Is get tap and fight. This is a very
 important experience and lesson. If there were more
 comrades like Zhang Zhixin 11721 1107 24301 in the
 pm many things would not have been In such a mess.
 Zhang Zhixin was a hero of the socialist period and we
 need such an example. In the old days. things were
 simple. Whoever opposed the Kuomintang became a
 here. of course. and whoever got shot became a martyr
 who will be remembered by the people. Under the new
 conditions, whoever has differing views becomes a revi.
 sionist who will go down In history as a byword or
 infamy and whoever opposes Mao Zedong Thought
 becomes a disgraced element of the three evils who
 cannot even gain the understanding of the people. it is
 not very easy to take this kind of mental pressure. None
 of us is mentally prepared for suds a struggle in the
 socialist period. In the past. when we fought the Kuo.
 mintang and Japanese. we could easily tell right from
 wrong and we felt superior to our enemies if we died and
 became heroes. However. in the socialsst period. since
 the party and leaders have high prestige, we always reel
 like we are wrong. wondering if we lack ideological
 'consciousness. if we are wrong after all, and if we will go
 down in history labelled as a byword of infamy and
 humiliation. This indeed poses a mental pressure. So I
 said Comrade Zhang Zhixin was wonderful. She noticed
 the problems very early. She was also alone because at
 the time everybody else. not knowing the problems. was
 still talking about the "three bests" and the "red sun.-
 Comrade Zhang
 Cone from IovC aZ iain's criticism on Chairman Mao
 respect not vicious attacks. I heard
 that comrades of Liaoning Province decided to rehabil-
 itate Comrade Zhang Zhixin after they read the ducu-
 rtssenu of the ideological work conference and found that
 there were criticisms on Chairman Mao bemuse Com-
 rade Zhang Zhixin's criticism was not as serious as dusk
 at the ideological work conference. She was great heeasss
 she was alone and many good comrades and petipile
 around her did not understand and opposed her. it was
 MR easy for her to persist under such a circssnistamW
 Zhang Zhixin was the vanguard of ideological lilx ratio
 Ideological liberation is to free us from various Lind. nr
 ideologies such as idealism. old dogmatisnt..uiwt.n?
 tions, and prejudice that prevent us from understandrnt'
 C00042349
 " ;w        liberatiaa Today, xe MIII need to libeate
 u-                           POLITICAL.
 Vic truth w that we can seek and understand the truth
 finely tlnd iadepiadenily. The purpose of ideological
 liberaties is to understand the truth and the criterion or
 truth is practice. As long as we recognize this rule. we
 as ~      Mil bast w worry about tirr?poblem of
 '?                                         overdoing
 :'  3baae esmwdes asked the how to esplaia democracy as a
 =       IMaas. if democracy is a means, sois dic+atorship. We
 r      ~ Mve no season to belittle the importance of democracy
 a
 L       ' . because we    k it as a means. is dktatothi
 p
 aanl
 di
 id
 .. ,.   .
 ^ w w w Mwr a means, ^ss Mara sa
 ctator-
 ,
 s ?:                  ship is a medium M ultimately eliminate chores. if we
 salt press the means of diqtatorsltip. why an't we press
 gem OR        I an a the tau Question. ve
 acuad question is that it roans and an end are relative
 and can be transformed. For instance, when we were
 opposing the Kuomintang, we fought for democracy
 which was our end; after we won democracy, we used it
 to build socialism and democracy became a means. At
 the present, democracy. I think, is both a means and an
 cad because we still need to develop socialist democracy
 so we can use it to arouse the people's enthusiasm for the
 cause of the four modernizations.
 SPES, CAR-a-aS6
 it September 1988
 How do we look at Chairman Mao's philosophical think.
 ing? What are his contributions and shortcomings? I can
 only talk about it briefly because I am not prepared and
 don't have any reference materials. I can only say a few
 things based on my memory.
 While discussing these issues, including Chairman Mao's
 theories on epistemology and contradictions. we should
 pgo far back to the philosophical diference between
 Chairman Mao and Stalin. Lenin wrote "Materialism
 and Empiric Criticism" which was the first Marxist
 classic to discuss mainly epistemology. No book was
 devoted to the discussion of epistemology before then.
 However. this book is to resolve the issue of materialism
 and criticize idealism. it also talks about the dialectics of
 epistemology. but not much. It mainly answers questions
 such as Meat is primary and what is secondary. Later he
 began to write "Notes on Philosophy" and learned
 Heget's science oflogic. He finished writing outlines and
 introduced many thinkings. It looked like be was ready
 to write another book on philosophy. but he did not have
 enough time to do so. In his "Notes on Philosophy."
 Lenin had two Ideas: one is to summarize the gist of
 dialectics into the unity of opposites. thus getting to the
 heart of the issue, which however should be explained
 and expanded on. the other is to apply dialectics to the
 theory of reflection. In addition. be also said that the
 road to knowledge is from vivid perception to abstract
 thinking and then from thinking to practice. For a lout
 time in the Soviet Union. Ideas like this failed to attract
 Stalin's attention. Since Stalin looked down on Hegel
 and dialectics. for a long time the Soviet t anion attached
 much importance to "Materialism and Empirio-Criti-
 cism"                                                                      it did not give due attention to "Notes on
 rhiloiophy." Under Soviet influence. China also
 attached importance to "Materialism and Empirio-C'rit-
 Want" and ignored "Notes on Philtssoph " "Notes on
 .lhilosophy" is only notes not a book but it contains the
 embryos of many valuable Was. However. Chairman
 Mao ? inherited and developed these ideas first by
 'expanding on Lenin's remark on the unity of the oppo-
 silts into an article, entitled "The Theory of Contradic-
 _,lions" and, second. by expanding Lenin's idea on the
 process of cognition into an article. entitled "The Theory
 of Practice." Chairman Mao's articles were written in
 9937, and "The Short History of the Communist Party
 sf the Soviet Union" was published in 1938. Stalin wrote
 one of the chapters, entitled "Dialectical and Historical
 Materialism" which exerted Vat influence and played a
 great part. This article expounds on the general guide-
 lines of the tenets of Marxist philosophy in simple and
 clear language and carries a certain amount ,pf weight.
 However. it also has several mistakes which Drill-tot
 discuss at length today. One of the mistakes is. as
 everybody knows. that when he discussed the four char-
 acteristics of dialectics. he only mentioned that the
 struggle of opposites in contradictions pushes things to
 move forward. Lenin's original remarks were two :en-
 sues: one was "development is the identity of oppo-
 sites" and the other was "development is the struggle of
 opposites." Stalin used only the second sentence and
 dropped the first one. Another thins about his article is
 that it did not give enough coverage to the issue of
 epistemology. As if epistemology is merely an issue of
 the knowability and unknowability of the world, he said
 that the materialism thinks the world is knowable and
 idealism thinks the world is unknowable. And that is all
 he said about the issue of epistemology. Earlier in 1937.
 Chairman Mao already elaborated on this issue; so it is
 in these areas that Chairman Mao inherited and devel-
 oped Lenin's thinking and these are also Chairman
 Mao's contributions.
 Ltnin'soriginal remarks on the process from vivid percep.
 tion to abstract thinking and then from abstract thinking to
 practice later aroused some questions. For example, how
 many stages are there in the process of cognition? one
 group says there are two: one is perceptual and the other,
 cation{. They say according to "The Theory of Practice,"
 knowledge is peaeptual in the lower stage and rational in
 the higher stage; so there are two stages. Another group
 says there are three stages, contending that rational knowl.
 edge is not the end of the process and that there should he
 another stags for the testing of practice, which is also what
 Chairman Mao said. Rational knowledge, which is only
 the half pant in the process of cognition, needs to go bat t~
 to the stage of practice. This is the continuous develop-
 meat of knowledge.
 What is our answer to this question? ('`hairman Mao
 ekboratrd on this issue in his work "Where I)t  Man%
 Correct Thinking Come From" where hr said that one
 C00042349
 -tt sun ate weer practice and kniiow.cuge: one a theroepauat
 and the other. rational knowledge. This is my view.
 l .aowledge should of course return to practice to be
 tested. but there are only two forms or knowledge:
 perceptual and rational. Are there any other forms? l say
 no. How can knowledge return to practice to be tested? It
 is simple. First we Via perceptual knowledge in practice
 and then elevate it to rational knowledge. Practice itself
 does not equal knowledge. For instance. the 10-year
 "Great Cultural Revolution" was a test for our basic line.
 or the theory of continuous revolution. and the theory of
 sharpening the class struggle. This 10-year period was
 used to test this theory. How? Like I said before, first we
 discovered through perceptual knowledge may wronged
 cases. economic problems. and lower living standards
 and then we elevated and combined many different
 kinds of perceptual knowledge. turned them into rational
 knowledge. and then concluded that the theory of sharp.
 erring the class struggle is wrong. When we review our
 experiences. we also use practice as the criterion for
 judgement which is formulated on the basis of percep.
 tual and rational knowledge. therefore. as far as the form
 of knowledge is concerned. there arc only two stages. In
 sum, we should affirm Chairman Mao's philosophical
 development and achievements. It is not right to ignore
 "The Theory of Practice" and stress only "Materialism
 and Empirio-Criticism: "
 and or the peocess. This shows the thoneoming of
 *? -Kw~ea~ww~. raw n awm swi pro wad from psrcep ion.
 ''r'     tear Woe the mad of subjecti'ism heading b ideal-
 M                 from pact= and that there are two
 Then. is Chairman Mao's philosophical thinking per-
 fEet? Of course not. For instance. I think "The Theory of
 lractire ` also has insufficient areas or shortcomings.
 Herr I will discuss only one question: what is perceptual
 and rational knowledge? According to "The Theory of
 Tractkr " perceptual knowledge reflects the appearance
 of things and is a stage of sense perceptions and impres-
 iions: after this stage repeats for several times. a sudden
 change will take place and form conception. judgement.
 inference. or rational knowledge. which reflects the
 rrssenoe car things. So perceptual knowledge is different
 'from rational knowledge. One difference is that rational
 ltaoodrstge is eoaception and judgement while penvepr
 twl knowledge is impression and sense perception.
 Another difference is that perceptual knowledge reflects
 sltt{e is from practice to knowledge and another stage is
 froae knowledge to practice. to this sense. the process of
 cognition has two stages-one from the beginning of
 -practice to knowledge and the tuber. the return of
 Waow1WV to practice. This is the development of
 M enin% ildes because serording to Lenin the process
 -~; ce it~,'nat order. Since this plus practice of the end of
 oppearaace while rational knowledge reflects essence.
 This formulation is questionable. Does it mean that
 Yherc is   concept or judgement in the stage of percep-
 tual kebuwwlledge? Let me give you an example. I say this
 qp is white. Is this perceptual or rational knowledge? By
 saying that this cup is white. I reflected the appearance.
 Rut didn't I reflect any concept or judgement' The cup is
 ?a concept and so is the color white. That the cup is white
 -6 & jedgemem but this judgement does not reflect the
 tpn nee of the cup. So I think there is conception and
 judgement in the stage of perceptual knowledge and we
 doaa't automatically understand the essence of things as
 soon as we gala concepts. Let's look atone orChainnan
 .7'Mao'g owe example: The rust part of the Chinese
 people's struggle against imperialism was the stage of
 perceptual knowledge and so was the Jong-tens sponta-
 ttcons struggle of the working class against capitalism.
 "Were there any concept or judgement during that stage?
 Ofcoorse there were. but those rarncepts and judgements
 only reflected the appearance or things. We often use
 concepts and judgements in our daily life, but many or
 such concepts and judgements reflect only the appear-
 ance not the essence of things. So we cannot say that the
 formation ofd concept automatically leads to the essence
 of things. Not necessarily. The difference between a
 concept and a sense perception is that the former masters
 the common characteristics and appearances of things
 and summarizes the common characteristics or things.
 Of course. essence can be reflected only by concepts. but
 this does not mean that all concepts reflect the essence of
 things. We now have many concepts. For instance. the
 concept ofapitalism existed before Marxism. but then it
 did not reflect the essence of capitalism. The concept of
 the noun commodity existed long time ago, but it took
 economists several thousand years to study, from classi-
 cal economics to Marx. before they finally understood
 the essence of commodity. Therefore. after a concept is
 formed, we usually have to go through a fairly long
 'development stage before we can master the essence of
 things. For another instance, since the 1940's. there have
 been people reporting that they saw flying objects which
 did not look like airplanes or anything else. More and
 more people saw them but nobody knew what they were.
 So after failing to find their name after muck research.
 we named them "flying saucers" which foreigners called
 UFO-namely unidentified flying objects. Is this a
 concept?  "Flying  saucers"--unidentified   flying
 objects-is a concept. not what exactly is this unidenti-
 fied flying object or 'flying saucer"" Is it sent by the
 people or another planet or an illusion' We don't know.
 We need to conduct research and prolonged studies and
 collect data before we can finally judge what exactly is a
 "flying saucer" and understand its essence. for still
 another instance: when did we learn the essence of horn"'
 Marx did. He said men's esacnce is the combination Of
 social relations. so he grasped the essence of men. But.
 didn't the concept of men exist before then? Aristotle
 said we are rational animals and others said men are
 ...there were many concepts. Franklin said horn are
 led-making animals. which was affirmed by Mart.
 Therefore. the process of learning the essence Of things is
 C00042349
 I
 anflitsaeeddedaessaabe 'W L
 i sM'&tdtei is iatioatl kaowkdse. It is flats dear
 define. It iii wr~ottfti ID say that am a concept iifirmed.  be able is
 osace of 11Ms wlM be reflected.
 4                      political crisis, aka conflict between the realties of social
 political crisis befkre we can remove the sense ofcrisis in
 7
 "U
 [Teal
 Opmeut of
 and the Way to
 had may ifferent
 Marxist philosophy of
 systems of Marxist
 ism. The same
 used to explain
 ophy. and the
 education
 Lm,and/to search for a new starting
 age can also be attributed to this cause:
 acid set up a new system of values and faith that
 present age is caused by the
 xtbooks on this subject. The
 After the beginning of the reform and the adoption o,
 open pgcy in China, people are more concerned wy
 its p+oper place is the
 .. - The position of theorists
 charged as indieae
 of the changes in the
 replacement of pages
 in a certain year. for e
 the delivery of the lecture
 aad:peoDk cordially shook ha
 net and some others did not know whether
 as shown in a social
 Some theorists did
 times. Vertically and
 rious when "class
 situation. though
 ill by no means
 ction of the
 a theorist
 examined
 s warmly
 anghai
 mit-
 The
 hey

