Thursday, May 09, 2024

Mao Zedong: My Thought is not a new stage, "but no one listens to me".

 

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.”

 

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