mao zedong - on the people s democratic dictatorship

8/12/2019 Mao Zedong - On the people s democratic dictatorship

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not recogni(e this truth is no communist. )oung

comrades who have not studied *ar%ism-Leninism

and have only recently +oined the Party may not yet

understand this truth. They must understand it -- only

then can they have a correct world outlook. Theymust understand that the road to the a"olition of

classes to the a"olition of state !ower and to the

a"olition of !arties is the road all mankind must take$

it is only a ,uestion of time and conditions.

Communists the world over are wiser than the

"ourgeoisie they understand the laws governing the

e%istence and develo!ment of things they understand

dialectics and they can see farther. The "ourgeoisiedoes not welcome this truth "ecause it does not want

to "e overthrown. To "e overthrown is !ainful and is

un"eara"le to contem!late for those overthrown for

e%am!le for the uomintang reactionaries whom we

are now overthrowing and for Ja!anese im!erialism

which we together with other !eo!les overthrew

some time ago. ut for the working class the

la"ouring !eo!le and the Communist Party the

,uestion is not one of "eing overthrown "ut ofworking hard to create the conditions in which

classes state !ower and !olitical !arties will die out

very naturally and mankind will enter the realm of

/reat 0armony.[1]#e have mentioned in !assing

the long-range !ers!ective of human !rogress in

order to e%!lain clearly the !ro"lems we are a"out to

discuss.

's everyone knows our Party !assed through

these twenty-eight years not in !eace "ut amid

hardshi!s for we had to fight enemies "oth foreign

and domestic "oth inside and outside the Party. #e

thank *ar% ngels Lenin and 2talin for giving us a
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wea!on. This wea!on is not a machine-gun "ut

*ar%ism-Leninism.

3n his "ook "Left-Wing" Communism, an Infantile

Disorder written in 195 Lenin descri"ed the ,uestof the 6ussians for revolutionary theory.[2]7nly

after several decades of hardshi! and suffering did

the 6ussians find *ar%ism. *any things in China

were the same as or similar to those in 6ussia

"efore the 7cto"er 6evolution. There was the same

feudal o!!ression. There was similar economic and

cultural "ackwardness. oth countries were

"ackward China even more so. 3n "oth countries

alike for the sake of national regeneration

!rogressives "raved hard and "itter struggles in their

,uest for revolutionary truth.

8rom the time of China&s defeat in the 7!ium #ar

of 145[3]Chinese !rogressives went through

untold hardshi!s in their ,uest for truth from the

#estern countries. 0ung 0siu-chuan[4]ang )u-

wei,[5])en 8u[6]and 2un )at-sen werere!resentative of those who had looked to the #est

for truth "efore the Communist Party of China was

"orn. Chinese who then sought !rogress would read

any "ook containing the new knowledge from the

#est. The num"er of students sent to Ja!an ritain

the :nited 2tates 8rance and /ermany was ama(ing.

't home the im!erial e%aminations[7]were

a"olished and modern schools s!rang u! like "am"oo

shoots after a s!ring rain$ every effort was made to

learn from the #est. 3n my youth 3 too engaged in

such studies. They re!resented the culture of #estern

"ourgeois democracy including the social theories

and natural sciences of that !eriod and they were

called ;the new learning; in contrast to Chinese
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feudal culture which was called ;the old learning;.

8or ,uite a long time those who had ac,uired the

new learning felt confident that it would save China

and very few of them had any dou"ts on this score as

the adherents of the old learning had. 7nlymoderni(ation could save China only learning from

foreign countries could moderni(e China. 'mong the

foreign countries only the #estern ca!italist

countries were then !rogressive as they had

successfully "uilt modern "ourgeois states. The

Ja!anese had "een successful in learning from the

#est and the Chinese also wished to learn from the

Ja!anese. The Chinese in those days regarded 6ussiaas "ackward and few wanted to learn from her. That

was how the Chinese tried to learn from foreign

countries in the !eriod from the 145s to the

"eginning of the 5th century.

3m!erialist aggression shattered the fond dreams of

the Chinese a"out learning from the #est. 3t was

very odd -- why were the teachers always committing

aggression against their !u!il< The Chinese learned agood deal from the #est "ut they could not make it

work and were never a"le to reali(e their ideals.

Their re!eated struggles including such a country-

wide movement as the 6evolution of 1911[8]all

ended in failure. =ay "y day conditions in the

country got worse and life was made im!ossi"le.

=ou"ts arose increased and dee!ened. #orld #ar 3

shook the whole glo"e. The 6ussians made the

7cto"er 6evolution and created the world&s first

socialist state. :nder the leadershi! of Lenin and

2talin the revolutionary energy of the great

!roletariat and la"ouring !eo!le of 6ussia hitherto

latent and unseen "y foreigners suddenly eru!ted

like a volcano and the Chinese and all mankind


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the leadershi! of the Communist Party of China the

Chinese !eo!le after driving out Ja!anese

im!erialism waged the Peo!le&s #ar of Li"eration

for three years and have "asically won victory.

Thus #estern "ourgeois civili(ation "ourgeois

democracy and the !lan for a "ourgeois re!u"lic have

all gone "ankru!t in the eyes of the Chinese !eo!le.

ourgeois democracy has given way to !eo!le&s

democracy under the leadershi! of the working class

and the "ourgeois re!u"lic to the !eo!le&s re!u"lic.

This has made it !ossi"le to achieve socialism and

communism through the !eo!le&s re!u"lic to a"olish

classes and enter a world of /reat 0armony. ang

)u-wei wrote Ta Tung Shu or theBook of Great

Harmony,"ut he did not and could not find the way

to achieve /reat 0armony. There are "ourgeois

re!u"lics in foreign lands "ut China cannot have a

"ourgeois re!u"lic "ecause she is a country suffering

under im!erialist o!!ression. The only way is

through a !eo!le&s re!u"lic led "y the working class.

'll other ways have "een tried and failed. 7f the

!eo!le who hankered after those ways some have

fallen some have awakened and some are changing

their ideas. vents are develo!ing so swiftly that

many feel the a"ru!tness of the change and the need

to learn anew. This state of mind is understanda"le

and we welcome this worthy desire to learn anew.

The vanguard of the Chinese !roletariat learned*ar%ism-Leninism after the 7cto"er 6evolution and

founded the Communist Party of China. 3t entered at

once into !olitical struggles and only now after a

tortuous course of twenty-eight years has it won

"asic victory. 8rom our twenty-eight years&


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the e%!eriences accumulated in these forty years and

these twenty-eight years all Chinese without

e%ce!tion must lean either to the side of im!erialism

or to the side of socialism. 2itting on the fence will

not do nor is there a third road. #e o!!ose theChiang ai-shek reactionaries who lean to the side of

im!erialism and we also o!!ose the illusions a"out a

third road.

;)ou are too irritating.; #e are talking a"out how

to deal with domestic and foreign reactionaries the

im!erialists and their running dogs not a"out how to

deal with anyone else. #ith regard to such

reactionaries the ,uestion of irritating them or not

does not arise. 3rritated or not irritated they will

remain the same "ecause they are reactionaries. 7nly

if we draw a clear line "etween reactionaries and

revolutionaries e%!ose the intrigues and !lots of the

reactionaries arouse the vigilance and attention of

the revolutionary ranks heighten our will to fight and

crush the enemy&s arrogance can we isolate the

reactionaries van,uish them or su!ersede them. #emust not show the slightest timidity "efore a wild

"east. #e must learn from #u 2ung[9]on the

Chingyang 6idge. 's #u 2ung saw it the tiger on

Chingyang 6idge was a man-eater whether irritated

or not. ither kill the tiger or "e eaten "y him -- one

or the other.

;#e want to do "usiness.; @uite right "usiness

will "e done. #e are against no one e%ce!t the

domestic and foreign reactionaries who hinder us

from doing "usiness. very"ody should know that it

is none other than the im!erialists and their running

dogs the Chiang ai-shek reactionaries who hinder

us from doing "usiness and also from esta"lishing


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di!lomatic relations with foreign countries. #hen we

have "eaten the internal and e%ternal reactionaries "y

uniting all domestic and international forces we shall

"e a"le to do "usiness and esta"lish di!lomatic

relations with all foreign countries on the "asis ofe,uality mutual "enefit and mutual res!ect for

territorial integrity and sovereignty.

;Aictory is !ossi"le even without international

hel!.; This is a mistaken idea. 3n the e!och in which

im!erialism e%ists it is im!ossi"le for a genuine

!eo!le&s revolution to win victory in any country

without various forms of hel! from the international

revolutionary forces and even if victory were won it

could not "e consolidated. This was the case with the

victory and consolidation of the great 7cto"er

6evolution as Lenin and 2talin told us long ago.

This was also the case with the overthrow of the

three im!erialist !owers in #orld #ar 33 and the

esta"lishment of the Peo!le&s =emocracies. 'nd this

is also the case with the !resent and the future of

Peo!le&s China. Just imagineB 3f the 2oviet :nion hadnot e%isted if there had "een no victory in the anti-

fascist 2econd #orld #ar if Ja!anese im!erialism

had not "een defeated if the Peo!le&s =emocracies

had not come into "eing if the o!!ressed nations of

the ast were not rising in struggle and if there were

no struggle of the masses of the !eo!le against their

reactionary rulers in the :nited 2tates ritain

8rance /ermany 3taly Ja!an and other ca!italist

countries -- if not for all these in com"ination the

international reactionary forces "earing down u!on

us would certainly "e many times greater than now.

3n such circumstances could we have won victorythrough

the Communist Party? and "ased u!on the alliance ofworkers and !easants. This dictatorshi! must unite as

one with the international revolutionary forces. This

is our formula our !rinci!al e%!erience our main

!rogramme.

Twenty-eight years of our Party are a long !eriod

in which we have accom!lished only one thing -- we

have won "asic victory in the revolutionary war. This

calls for cele"ration "ecause it is the !eo!le&s

victory "ecause it is a victory in a country as large as

China. ut we still have much work to do$ to use the

analogy of a +ourney our !ast work is only the first

ste! in a long march of ten thousand li. 6emnants of

the enemy have yet to "e wi!ed out. The serious task


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of economic construction lies "efore us. #e shall

soon !ut aside some of the things we know well and

"e com!elled to do things we don&t know well. This

means difficulties. The im!erialists reckon that we

will not "e a"le to manage our economy they arestanding "y and looking on awaiting our failure.

#e must overcome difficulties we must learn

what we do not know. #e must learn to do economic

work from all who know how no matter who they

are. #e must esteem them as teachers learning from

them res!ectfully and conscientiously. #e must not

!retend to know when we do not know. #e must not

!ut on "ureaucratic airs. 3f we dig into a su"+ect for

several months for a year or two for three or five

years we shall eventually master it. 't first some of

the 2oviet Communists also were not very good at

handling economic matters and the im!erialists

awaited their failure too. ut the Communist Party of

the 2oviet :nion emerged victorious and under the

leadershi! of Lenin and 2talin it learned not only

how to make the revolution "ut also how to carry onconstruction. 3t has "uilt a great and s!lendid socialist

state. The Communist Party of the 2oviet :nion is

our "est teacher and we must learn from it. The

situation "oth at home and a"road is in our favour

we can rely fully on the wea!on of the !eo!le&s

democratic dictatorshi! unite the !eo!le throughout

the country the reactionaries e%ce!ted and advance

steadily to our goal.

NOTES

1. 'lso known as the world of /reat

0armony. 3t refers to a society "ased on

!u"lic ownershi! free from class

e%!loitation and o!!ression -- a lofty ideal


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long cherished "y the Chinese !eo!le. 0ere

the realm of /reat 0armony means

communist society.

. 2ee A. 1. Lenin "Left-Wing"

Communism, an Infantile Disorder, Cha!ter. Lenin saidD ;for nearly half a century --

a!!ro%imately from the &forties to the

&nineties -- advanced thinkers in 6ussia

under the o!!ression of an un!aralleled

savage and reactionary tsardom eagerly

sought for the correct revolutionary theory

and followed each and every &last word& in

uro!e and 'merica in this s!here with

astonishing diligence and thoroughness.

6ussia achieved *ar%ism the only correct

revolutionary theory verita"ly

throughsuffering,"y half a century of

un!recedented torment and sacrifice of

un!recedented revolutionary heroism

incredi"le energy devoted searching study

testing in !ractice disa!!ointment

verification and com!arison with uro!ean

e%!erience.;

E. 8aced with the o!!osition of the Chinese

!eo!le to her traffic in o!ium ritain sent

forces in 145-4 to invade wangtung and

other coastal regions of China under the

!rete%t of !rotecting trade. The troo!s in

wangtung led "y Lin Tse-hsu fought a

war of resistance.

4. 0ung 0siu-chuan >114-F4? who was

"orn in wangtung was the leader of a!easant revolutionary war in the middle of

the 19th century. 3n 1G1 he led a mass

u!rising in wangsi and !roclaimed the

esta"lishment of the Tai!ing 0eavenly

ingdom which held many !rovinces and

fought the Ching =ynasty for fourteen years.


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Logi!, *ontes,uieu&sL'$s(rit des Lois, and

other works were vehicles for the s!read of

uro!ean "ourgeois thought in China.

H. ' system of e%aminations ado!ted "y

China&s autocratic dynasties. 3t was a methodused "y the feudal ruling class for selecting

!ersonnel to govern the !eo!le and also for

enticing the intellectuals. The system dating

from the Hth century !ersisted into the early

5th century.

. The 6evolution of 1911 overthrew the

autocratic regime of the Ching =ynasty. 7n

7cto"er 15 of that year a section of the ew

'rmy at the urging of the revolutionarysocieties of the "ourgeoisie and !etty

"ourgeoisie staged an u!rising in #uchang.

This was followed "y u!risings in other

!rovinces and very soon the rule of the

Ching =ynasty crum"led. 7n January 1

191 the Provisional /overnment of the

6e!u"lic of China was set u! in anking

and 2un )at-sen was elected Provisional

President. The revolution achieved victory

through the alliance of the "ourgeoisie

!easants workers and ur"an !etty

"ourgeoisie. ut "ecause the grou! which

led the revolution was com!romising in

nature failed to "ring real "enefits to the

!easants and yielded to the !ressure of

im!erialism and the feudal forces state

!ower fell into the hands of the orthern

warlord )uan 2hih-kai and the revolution

failed.

9. ' hero in the novel Shui Hu Chuan

)Heroes of the *arshes+, who killed a tiger

with his "are hands on the Chingyang 6idge.

This is one of the most !o!ular e!isodes in

that famous novel.


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15. 8or the relation "etween the sociali(ation

of agriculture and the industriali(ation of the

country see n the uestion of .gri!ultural

Co-o(eration >2ections H and ? a re!ort

made "y Comrade *ao Tse-tung on July E1

19GG at the Conference of the 2ecretaries of

the Provincial *unici!al and 'utonomous

6egion Committees of the Chinese

Communist Party. 3n this re!ort Comrade

*ao Tse-tung on the "asis of 2oviet

e%!erience and our own country&s !ractice

greatly develo!ed the thesis that

sociali(ation of agriculture should !roceed

in ste! with socialist industriali(ation.

11. The ,uotation is from Chu 0si&s

commentary on the Confu!ian Do!trine of

the *ean, Cha!ter 1E.

Transcription y the Maoist !ocumentation Pro"ect#

$TM% revised &''( y Mar)ists#org

Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung
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mao zedong - on the people s democratic dictatorship

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