Volume 1, No. 7, September 2000

The struggle between the two classes and the two roads which exists in society inevitably finds expression within the Party. Having summed up the historical experience of the struggles between the two lines in the Party for more than half a century, our great leader Chairman Mao has taught us: "Practise Marxism, and not revisionism; unite, and don’t split; be open and above-board, and don’t intrigue and conspire." These are the three basic principles to be followed in waging inner-Party struggles. All the struggles between the two lines hitherto carried out in the Party involved, in the final analysis, the question of whether to practise Marxism or revisionism. In the socialist period, such struggles have always centred around the question of whether to uphold or to change the Party’s basic line. Though manifested in different forms, the Kao Kang-Jao Shu-shih anti-Party alliance, the Peng Teh-huai Right opportunist anti-Party clique, the Liu Shao-chi renegade clique and the counter-revolutionary conspiracies of political swindlers like Liu Shao-chi are, in essence, one and the same. Their aim is to change fundamentally the Party’s basic line and policies, subvert the dictatorship of the proletariat and restore capitalism. Practising Marxism, one naturally strives for unity and is open and above-board, whereas practising revisionism entails splittist and conspiratorial manoeuvres. The Marxist-Leninist line formulated by Chairman Mao for our Party represents the interests and wishes of the masses and reflects the objective law governing the development of history. It is because of this that our Party is able to strengthen its unity on the basis of Chairman Mao’s revolutionary line and our Party members can be open and above-board politically, always ready to voice their political views and mobilize the masses to struggle for the implementation of the Party’s line. The revisionist line of Liu Shao-chi and other political swindlers represents in a concentrated form the interests of the landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, bad elements and Rightists and caters to the needs of Soviet revisionist social-imperialism in its attempt to subvert the proletarian dictatorship of our country. Since their line runs counter to the development of history and cannot be tolerated by the people, they can only resort to splittist activities and engage in counter-revolutionary conspiracies in dark corners, plotting to betray the Party and the country.

Contradiction and struggle within the Party are the motive force propelling the development of the Party. If there were no contradictions and struggles in the Party, the Party’s life would come to an end. All Communist Party members are living amidst the struggle between the two lines and it is impossible to keep themselves aloof from this struggle. Evading inner-Party struggles and covering up inner-Party contradictions are both in contravention of revolutionary dialectics and detrimental to the revolutionary cause. Inner-Party contradictions cannot be covered up but can only be solved through struggle. Only by resolutely fighting against and completely triumphing over the erroneous lines which jeopardize the revolution can the correct line be implemented and the Party members’ consciousness of class struggle and the struggle between the two lines be raised to a higher level. When waging struggles in the Party, however, it is imperative to adhere to the correct principles and policies and strictly distinguish between and correctly handle the two different types of contradictions. This is an important guarantee for strengthening Party unity so that it can lead the proletariat and the masses to defeat the enemy, and it is also an important aspect in carrying out the Party’s basic line. The principle of "unity, criticism, unity" and "learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones and curing the sickness to save the patient" advanced by Chairman Mao in dealing with comrades who have made mistakes is the criterion for correctly waging struggle in the Party. It is aimed at achieving both clarity in ideology and unity among comrades. Following this principle of Chairman Mao’s during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and the movement to criticize revisionism and rectify the style of work, our Party exposed and repudiated the revisionist line of Liu Shao-chi and other political swindlers and their counter-revolutionary crimes, saved quite a number of comrades who had committed errors and educated the broad masses of cadres and Party members. As a result, the entire Party has become more united on the principled basis of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. This constitutes an important hallmark for the thriving of our Party and a solid foundation which no class enemy can undermine.

To maintain our Party’s nature of being the vanguard of the proletariat, it is essential to give all Party members an education in Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and to do a good job of remoulding their world outlook. This is an important content in building up the Party ideologically. Chairman Mao has always stressed the importance of remoulding one’s world outlook and opposed Liu Shao-chi’s "ideological self-cultivation" based on idealism. Chairman Mao has pointed out that "this change in world outlook is something fundamental." The key problem in remoulding one’s world outlook lies in using dialectical materialism to oppose idealism and metaphysics and using historical materialism to oppose historical idealism. Only when a Communist Party member establishes a dialectical and historical materialist world outlook can he firmly and consciously implement Chairman Mao’s proletarian revolutionary line and play the role of a vanguard fighter of the proletariat in struggle. If he does not remould his world outlook and lets idealist and metaphysical ideas remain in his mind, he will not be able to recognize sham Marxism and resist erroneous lines.

The dialectical and historical materialist world outlook does not drop from the skies, nor is it innate in the mind. It comes from prolonged and bitter tempering in practical struggle under the guidance of Marxist theory. Man’s subjective world is remoulded in the course of transforming the objective world. Divorced from practice in the three great revolutionary movements— class struggle, the struggle for production and scientific experiment — especially divorced from the struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie, will only make people rotten to the bottom of their souls. Remoulding one’s world outlook is bound to entail a protracted and repeated process. "Getting rid of the stale and taking in the fresh" ideologically never ceases and the ideological struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie runs through the entire historical period of the proletarian dictatorship. Liu Shao-chi and other political swindlers worked overtime to peddle their idealist "self-cultivation" which was characterized by splitting the subjective from the objective and divorcing knowledge from practice; their aim was to use the bourgeois world outlook to transform and corrupt our Party, making it depart from the Marxist-Leninist line and turning Party members into bourgeois hypocrites and double-dealers through "self-cultivation."

In "Introducing The Communist," Chairman Mao called on us to sum up both historical and current new experience in building up the Party on the basis of our understanding of the unity between the theory of Marxism-Leninism and the practice of the Chinese revolution, and to spread this experience throughout the Party, so that our Party becomes as solid as steel. We must follow Chairman Mao’s instruction and conscientiously sum up our experience in strengthening Party building so as to make our Party more consolidated, more staunch and more vigorous and always advance victoriously along Chairman Mao’s proletarian revolutionary line.

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