|
Using the dialectical concept of the unity of opposites, Chairman Mao's
important instruction
on the question of the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat profoundly
reveals the internal contradictions in socialist society and points out the
protracted, complex and tortuous nature of class struggle and the two-line
struggle. Conscientious reading and study, grasping the dialectical concept of
the unity of opposites and acting according to the inherent dialectic of
objective things are of tremendous significance in our great struggle to combat
and prevent revisionism and consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Chairman Mao has said: "Marxist philosophy holds that the law of the unity of
opposites is the fundamental law of the universe. This law operates universally,
whether in the natural world, in human society, or in man's thinking. Between
the opposites in a contradiction there is at once unity and struggle, and it is
this that impels things to move and change." (On the Correct Handling of
Contradictions Among the People.) This means that all things in the world
are contradictory entities. There is nothing which does not contain
contradictions. Without contradiction nothing would exist and, of course, there
would be no development to speak of. Consequently, in observing a thing we must
be aware of its two mutually contradictory aspects, study how they coexist in a
single entity and how they struggle with each other and, under certain
conditions, how they transform themselves into each other. If we see only one
aspect and not the other aspect as well and neglect the unity and struggle of
opposites, we shall commit metaphysical and idealist errors.
CONTRADICTIONS EXIST IN SOCIALIST SOCIETY
Two contradictory aspects also exist in our socialist society. The struggle
between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie and between the socialist and
capitalist roads is the principal contradiction in socialist society.
Chairman Mao's important instruction on the question of theory is a profound and
concrete analysis of socialist society. Chairman Mao has said: "In a word,
China is a socialist country. Before liberation, she was much the same as a
capitalist country. Even now she practises an eight-grade wage system,
distribution according to work and exchange through money, and in all this
differs very little from the old society. What is different is that the system
of ownership has been changed." This clearly tells us that on the one hand a
dictatorship of the proletariat has been established and public ownership of the
means of production has been realized, and "China is a socialist country"; on
the other hand, there still are things which "differ very little from the old
society" and there are vestiges of old things in the new. Two mutually opposing
factors exist simultaneously; dying capitalism and growing communism are locked
in struggle. Under the guidance of Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, the
proletariat and the masses of revolutionary people adhere to the socialist road,
developing the communist factors in a planned way, but the overthrown exploiting
classes and the newborn bourgeois elements frantically try to safeguard moribund
capitalism in order to turn back the clock of history. Consequently, the
struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie and between the socialist
and capitalist roads is protracted, tortuous and some times very acute. This
situation permeates the whole historical period of socialism.
Inside the Communist Party of China there also exist two mutually contradictory
aspects, that is to say, there also exists the struggle between the correct line
and the incorrect line. This is a reflection within the Party of class
contradictions in society and contradictions between the new and the old. Over
the past fifty years or so there have been ten big struggles between the two
lines inside our Party, four of which have taken place in the period of
socialist revolutions. It is determined by the objective law of class struggle
and is independent of man's will. Throughout the whole historical period of
socialism there is the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie and
between the socialist and the capitalist roads, and there is the threat of
subversion and aggression by imperialism and social-imperialism. That is why the
two-line struggle between Marxism and revisionism in the Party will inevitably
go on for a long time. Even in the future when classes will be eliminated and
communism realized, there still will be the contradictions between the
superstructure and the economic base and between the relations of production and
the productive forces and there still will be two mutually contradictory
factors. Consequently, the struggles between the advanced and the backward and
between the correct and the erroneous lines-which reflect these
contradictions-will still exist. Chairman Mao has always taken pains to teach us
to have a full understanding of the protracted nature of the two-line struggle.
CONTRADICTIONS TRANSFORM THEMSELVES INTO EACH OTHER
The two mutually contradictory aspects of an objective thing are not dead and
rigid, but living, conditional and mobile and they transform themselves into
each other. In socialist society, the communist factors and the capitalist
factors and the proletariat and the bourgeoisie interact and interpenetrate and
in given conditions transform themselves into one another. The proletariat is a
vigorous revolutionary class and in the struggle against the bourgeoisie it
continually grows and enlarges its strength, developing the socialist cause and
forging ahead to the goal of communism. This is, the principal aspect which
plays the leading role. Although the bourgeoisie is daily declining, it is not
resigned to its defeat hut will again and again pit itself against the
proletariat, launching attacks against the proletariat by using the vestiges in
the economic, moral and intellectual fields left over from the old society, in
addition to engaging in counter-revolutionary conspiratorial activities. It
tries in every way to corrupt our revolutionary ranks and seek agents inside our
Party and state organs in a vain attempt to restore capitalism. Consequently,
two possibilities face us: forge ahead to communism, or go back to capitalism.
Whether the proletariat or the bourgeoisie will win; whether our society will
advance or retrogress depends on certain conditions. The two aspects in struggle
will not transform themselves unless there is a given condition which is none
other than our Party's line. Chairman Mao has said: "The correctness or
incorrectness of the ideological and political line decides everything." Our
socialist cause will develop and advance when the line is correct, when we
persist in continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat,
when bourgeois right is restricted and when all-round dictatorship is exercised
over the bourgeoisie in the political, economic, ideological, cultural and other
spheres at all times. Otherwise, our socialist society will move backwards if
the line is incorrect, if bourgeois right is not restricted but wantonly
enlarged and if capitalism is allowed to develop freely.
THE NEW WILL TRIUMPH OVERTHE OLD
“The supersession of the old by the new is a general, eternal and inviolable
law of the universe." (Mao Tsetung: On Contradiction) The
contradiction and struggle between the old and the new aspects in all things
will inevitably end up with the new assuming the dominant position and defeating
the old no matter how tortuous and repeated the struggle will be. As far as new
things are concerned, setbacks are only temporary, and the general trend is that
new things will develop and grow stronger and finally supersede the old. In the
long period of socialist society, progress is the mainstream and the essence,
whereas retrogression is only an eddy, a transient phenomenon. The restoration
of capitalism in the Soviet Union can only ailed the pace of the international
communist movement but will in no way whatsoever change the general trend of
historical development. The first socialist country founded by Lenin has changed
its political colour, but it can be said with certainty that after fierce and
tortuous class struggle it ultimately will return to the path of Lenin. Speaking
at the inevitable defeat of plots by the bourgeoisie to restore capitalism in
China, Chairman Mao said: 'if the Rightists stage an anti-Communist coup
d'etat in China, I am sure they will know no peace either and their rule will
most probably be short-lived because it will not he tolerated by the
revolutionaries, who represent the interests of the people making up more than
90 per cent of the population" These theses affirm the incontrovertible
truth that communism will inevitably triumph over capitalism.
In his "Left-Wing" Communism, An Infantile Disorder Lenin affirmed:
"Communists should know that the future in any case belongs to them." Just
as Chairman Mao pointed out: "The future is bright; the road is tortuous."
The revolutionary cause of the proletariat has already won great victories and
will win still greater victories. That we can use the law of the unity of
opposites to study problems, dare to recognize the protractedness of class
struggle and the two-line struggle, face up to the acute question of the
possibility of a capitalist restoration in the historical period and dare to
proclaim all this to the revolutionary people of China and the rest of the
world, is an expression of our strength and our utmost confidence in the future,
and this is the attitude of thoroughgoing dialectical materialists. No
revisionist or idealist is capable of doing this. In order to persist in
continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, we are now
acting in accordance with Chairman Mao's teaching and doing "more reading of
Marxist-Leninist works," learning to apply the dialectical-materialist
viewpoint to observe and study problems, combating idealism and metaphysics,
preventing rigidity in thinking and separation from reality and striving to
overcome one-sidedness and subjectivism. As clear-headed revolutionaries, we
must be aware that there is the danger of capitalist restoration in the
historical period of socialism, but we must above all recognise the
inevitability of the ultimate triumph of Marxism-Leninism; we must not be blind
to the arduous and tortuous struggle just because the future is bright, nor lose
confidence because the struggle is long and tortuous and become half-hearted
revolutionaries.
Peking Review No.51, December 19,1975
|
