Critique and revision of the editorial article “Leninism,
or social imperialism?” Criticisms and corrections of the draft submitted for
review[1]
(3 April 1970)
1
This article is well-written and has been read, and I am
waiting to read another one. It seems to be enough to use this one, and it can
be used by two newspapers and one magazine. I've deleted a few
paragraphs of my words[2],
which are useless and offensive to others. Don't write such words. I have said
this a hundred times, but no one listens to me. I don't know why, so please ask
the comrades of the Central Committee to look into it. I've kept a few
paragraphs of useful words, but not all of them, as far as offensive words are
concerned. Please take note of the above.
Mao Zedong
3 April 1970
Please rearrange the footnote numbers because a few
paragraphs have been deleted.
2
But history has its twists and turns. Just as after the
death of Engels there was the revisionism of Bernstein and Kautsky, so after
the death of Stalin there was the revisionism of Khrushchev and Brezhnev.
Eleven years after Khrushchev came to power, a split
occurred within revisionism, and Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev. It took him more
than five years, but such a person is now presiding over the ‘commemoration’ in
the USSR of the centenary of Lenin's birth.
3
The ‘Slavic empire’ of the old tsar has long since come to nothing.
The tsarist rule itself was eliminated by the Great October Revolution led by
Lenin in 1917, and the rule of the old tsar was over. In today's era of total
collapse of imperialism, the new tsar's attempt to re-establish a bigger empire
to dominate the whole world can only be a dream.
…………………..
(In the second footnote, there is a reference to Khrushchev’s
“three-no-world”. In his Secret Speech to the 20th Congress of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union in 1956, Nikita Khrushchev criticized the policies of
Joseph Stalin. One of the key elements of his speech was the repudiation of
Stalin's alleged personality cult. Khrushchev highlighted three main aspects,
often referred to as the "three no's":
No to the cult of personality: Khrushchev condemned the alleged excessive glorification of Stalin's personality and his elevation to almost god-like status within the Soviet Union.
· No to arbitrariness in decision-making:
Khrushchev criticized Stalin's alleged autocratic style of leadership, which
often led to arbitrary decisions and the suppression of dissenting voices
within the party.
·
No to violations of socialist legality:
Khrushchev criticized Stalin for numerous alleged human rights abuses,
including purges, forced labor camps (Gulags), and executions carried out
without due process, which violated socialist legal principles. – Translator)
[1] “Leninism
or Social Imperialism?” was written to commemorate the centenary of Lenin's
birth. The original title of the revised draft sent by Zhou Enlai and others to
Mao Zedong for review on 1 April 1970 was “Leninism and Soviet Social
Imperialism”, but when Mao Zedong reviewed it, he changed it to “Leninism or
Social Imperialism?” The first part of this article is Mao Zedong's comments on
the draft for review; the second part of this article is the two paragraphs he
added to the draft for review; and the third part of this article is his
revision of a paragraph in the draft for review. This article was later
published by the editorial departments of the People's Daily, the Red Flag
magazine, and the PLA Daily in the 22 April 1970 issue of the People's Daily,
the PLA Daily, and the 1 May issue of the Red Flag magazine.
[2] On
pages 1 and 2 of the draft submitted for review on 1 April 1970, Mao Zedong
deleted the following passage: “Chairman Mao, the greatest Marxist-Leninist of
our time and our great leader, pointed out: ’The doctrine of Leninism has
developed Marxism. In what ways has it developed? Firstly, in its world view
(that is, materialism and dialectics); secondly, in the theory of revolution,
revolutionary tactics, the party, class struggle and the dictatorship of the
proletariat, and many other issues. Lenin had the doctrine of the world view,
the doctrine of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the doctrine of the
construction of socialism. Lenin had seven years of practice in socialist
construction, which Marx did not have.’‘’ On the second and third pages, the
following four paragraphs were deleted: “For half a century, Comrade Mao
Zedong, in leading China in the great struggle to complete the New Democratic
Revolution, in leading China in the great struggle for socialist revolution and
socialist construction, and in leading the contemporary international communist
movement in its great struggle against imperialism, against modern revisionism,
and against the reactionaries of all countries, has inherited, defended and
developed Marxism-Leninism, raising it to a brand-new stage, that is, the stage
of Mao Zedong Thought. Combining the universal truths of Marxism-Leninism with
the concrete practice of the revolution, he inherited, defended and developed
Marxism-Leninism, and raised Marxism-Leninism to a brand-new stage, that is,
that of Mao Zedong Thought.” ‘’Mao Tse-tung Thought is the Marxism-Leninism of
an era when imperialism is heading for total collapse and socialism is heading
for worldwide victory.‘’ “Comrade Mao Tse-tung is the Lenin of our time.” ‘It
is precisely because of the victories of the proletarian world revolution and
the death struggle of imperialism that the struggle between contemporary
Marxism-Leninism and revisionism is more intense than at any other time in
history. At the very beginning of Khrushchev's revisionism, Chairman Mao, our
great leader, had an insight into the serious danger of modern revisionism to
the cause of the proletarian revolution. Under the leadership of Chairman Mao,
together with the Party of Labour of Albania, headed by the great
Marxist-Leninist Comrade Enver Hoxha, and true Marxist-Leninists all over the
world, Chairman Mao has time and again repelled the counter-currents of modern
revisionism and defended Marxism-Leninism. This is of extremely far-reaching
historical significance to the cause of the world proletarian revolution and
the liberation of the oppressed peoples.” On page 5, the following three
paragraphs were deleted: “Comrade Mao Tse-tung also pointed out incisively:
’One word can raise a nation, while one word can destroy a nation. When Marx
spoke of the dictatorship of the proletariat, he said that one word that could create
a nation; when Khrushchev spoke of a three-no-world, a state of the whole people
and a party of the whole people, he said one word could kill a nation.’’ “Comrade
Mao Tse-tung is referring to a socialist state when he talks about the rise and
fall of the state. There is socialism only when there is dictatorship of the
proletariat; without dictatorship of the proletariat, there is no socialism.” “Comrade
Mao Zedong comprehensively summed up the historical experience of the
dictatorship of the proletariat, both positive and negative, and with genius
and creativity applied materialistic dialectics to analyse the contradictions
of socialist society, expose the laws of socialist society, found the doctrine
of continued revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, and
personally initiated and led China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution,
which resolved the problems of consolidating the proletariat both theoretically
and practically. He personally initiated and led the Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution in China, solving in theory and practice the most important
contemporary problem of consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat and
preventing the restoration of capitalism. This is an epoch-making contribution
to the cause of world proletarian revolution.”
