000042349 hits-CAR42-os6 'fStyleaber INS definit a will I ins at} /Plan which ecein I lion of China is 1914 and I9 3 was Pere" alike natal population tvely. ells. eoosoatikt rittaia. !ed~eopca W lc t tincaby diwat areas. No matter what 't' is accessaryfor us in mar government defined are the statist are strongly in favor current system of frowned on major chin town% and villages interested in two di population. The Mi townships now areas. and it sake does potability a isllowing stry of Finance beaise the health, and grain depart y the criteria that will meet the requirem Pet' ests istmies definition of themselves. They ity of the criteria responsible for compil- find it impossible to as Commission also Id like to see definition of urban entity commercial. is all have and rural y arbitrary (D 9 . POLITICAL This is 21st an underlying requ Win RoaW an Truth C terian. Theory -Ihmeomb 400302701r(fag WEl RENDAO7JIUYI UJANJWU M ClUnew 1166 pp 122 ,lChspter Aram book -is Defence of Humanism" by Wang Ruwhui; Saniian Shudian. 279 pages; transcrip- lion of a speech delivered at a forum held in Shanghai on 15 Aug 1979] lText) The hssry of of a swwlII . Shwid Be F~Iarpdt Ian to talk about the issue of truth criterion.. bringing up this issue at the present is of not only domestic but also international significance. Marxism has been tested in practice for over a century since it was intro- duced. How do we look at it now? In the beginning of the 20th Century. the October revolution won a great victory. In the middle of the 20th Century. the Chinese revolution also won a great victory. These great events brilliantly proved the correctness of Marxism and exerted a far- seaching influence in the world. In the 1930's, the reputa- tion of the imperialist camp was notorious while the influence of the socialist camp was growing among the -people of the world who placed hope in the Soviet Union and China. However, In the past 20 years or so. things have changed. First. the Soviet Union bad problems. Immedi- ately alter that. the socialist amp split. There followed 10 years of turmoil in China. Contrary to what happened on this side. capitalism had over 20 years of a "golden W." What does this explain? I think perhaps during these years Marxist theory has failed to develop along with the devel- opment of practice; therefore. it is probably already behind the international reality. Marxist theory has three parts, and the most detailed one is political economy. "Das Kapital" was in line with the reality at its time. Later In the imperialist period. things were different. In the early 20th Century. Lenin wrote "Imperialism. the Highest Stage of Capitalism" and thereby solved the problems of that period. Now half a century has passed since then. the situation has changed ?drastially, and many new situations and phenomena have appeared in capitalist development. However, may of our comrades still try to understand capitalism wily by reading books. Of course. we need to read Marx's "Des Kapital" and Lenin's "Imperialism. the Iliglwst Stage of Capitalism." but what these bunks depicted Approved for It ase Date AUG 91 C00042349 .JPRSSC.AR4$-O.6 Io Sepleathr I>I~ were situations in the last century or the early part of this ttt:ntury and many changes have occurred since then. Although essential and basic contradictions remain the same. many situations have indeed changed. Due to .-arty years of isolation (resulting first from an imperi- ,.list blockade and them from our own dosed-door pol- *yL se did not understand the outside world. Due to the olation and lack of study. we knew very little about the "vie were loo afraid to talk about it Now that our door is indeed many contradictions including economic pnth- (ems. inflation, and an energy crisis. which gave them great headnches. but they are far from dying or rapidl% dedining. When a system is dying. it should he tatrl) easy-to detect. Even if you are there only for 20 days or a month, you tbould be able to rind traces of decline in social conditions and the psychological conditions of the ,feople. Like Comrade Its Jin said in his novel -Home:- A am denouncing a dying system: that system is indeed lying (be feudal things are withering one after another. '~~ now rarer ay questions and WICUIVUUU :. Browiag in the fratnwork of capitalist s4inle dso reds the aced so think about many iaucs. We . 77~ I wp der if the I.r. .., . . +efo "3adyaes. from all angles, new phenomena which have -appeared in capitalist countries during the past few :decades since the introduction of 'imperialism, the highest Stage of Capitalism" and gives Marxist answers to new questions and on new situations, Of coupe. we do not have another Lenin; nor did Chairman Mao write such a book. Then what shall we do? I think instead of waiting for some talent to show up. we should rely on collective power--the collective power of theoretical workers--to explore and study and gain new knowledge from years of research and discussion. which is also developing Marxist political economy. Lenin said imperialism was moribund capitalism. He even then predicted that the capitalist system was dying. Of course. several dacades could also be considered a dying period in history. It takes not just one or two decades for a system to die; it could take several decades or even a century. This is understindable. But the question is since Lenin's book "Imperialism. the Highest Stage of capitalism." especially since World War II. the capitalist economy, in general. has had many crises as well as rapid developments. resulting in higher 'living standards for workers and a so-called "golden age." How ' come a dying system has a "golden age?" In addition. they will be doomed as soon as it explodes. Because. it some new capitalist countries have emerged in some areas and they are developing very rapidly. For instance. Singapore and South Korea are making rapid economic progress. This explains that Chairman. Mao's thesis in "The Theory of New Democracy" that there could not be another Kemal is proved incorrect in practice. Then. is it justified to describe the present capitalist world with such adjectives as rapidly declining and moribound? There are two estimates and based on them we can develop two kinds of foreign strategic principles. If we think the capitalist system is dying. we should hurry up and get prepared for the world revolution. Didn't we use to any during the "cultual revolution" that "now is the time for imperialism to head to a complete collapse and for socialism to head to a world-wide victory?" Lin Biao also thought that way. He believed that cities were surrounded by rural areas all over the world and he wanted to overthrow U.S. imperialist. Soviet revision- and and everything else. He was an ...cute "Leftist." Another estimate is that in spite of crises. capitalism still has some life in it. I have been abroad only a few times. Lam year I went to the United States and saw there were n r dpi ism is es rr. .longer than what Lenin predicted or if it was probably loo early for Lenin to say that capitalism was at a dying stage. We should be able to study these questions. At that lime. it was impossible for Lenin to make accurate predictions on certain things. I think Lenin probably could not imagine or predict the rapid developments in the science. technology. and productive forces of today's capitalist world. Take polarization for instance.-Marx said in -Da Kapitar that as capitalism develops, there will be an increasingly large number of poor proletarians on the one side and millionaires on the other. In other words. the entire society will be polarised into the shape of a gourd-bit on one end. small on the other. and very skinny in the middle-and the middle class and petty bourgeoisie will be drawn to both ends. What is the current situation of capitalist society? There are large numbers of middle-class people. Under this circum- stance. we should forget about books. proceed strictly from reality, and test theory with practice. If a theory -contradicts reality. we should revise it. We should never distort poets to accommodate theories by saying that the peoples of capitalist countries are impoverished, that they will rebel any minute. that they are just sitting on a powder magazine that will explode any time, and that would be unrealistic. American workers strike. too. but they are not opposing the capitalist system. They want higher wages. We visited the United Auto Workers union in Detroit. A union official told us that they were willing to -cooperate with capitalists. but capitalists refused to cooperate. so they had to right. tie believed that everything could be solved through legal struggle and he had no intention of overthrowing the capitalist system. We'annot just say you American workers ltavt such a low level of class consciousness. you are cor- rupted. and etc. I think we should do more than make critical remarks on this issue. rot it reflects theohjet'ttte existence of a.situation; whereas the task of Marxism is to reccgaiic facts as they are in an objective manner and to answer such questions through Marxist analysis. We should not be afraid of such things. Now that our foreign iodations have been established and more and more people have come in and out of our country, our youth begin to have problems, thinking that capitalism is superior. In the past these young people did not under- stand and thought capitalism was a complete mess. Now I =11 --?n 000042349 JPRS.CAR-a6-os6 19 September 19U 3 they understand a little about the surface of capitalism. but not enough. so they think that capitalism is superior and that our socialism in comparison, has failed. V61at Is socialism exactly? It was impossible to have a -raumplete theory of socialism durintg Mart' time because =laid a foundation for scientific socialism. It is to say that the theory of sciesilfie socialism is ` wmptese because socialism has sat been carried out. Mi4Now am there be a complete theory as socialism with- +wt * practice? We have tested and developed the Theory sough Soviet and Chinese practice of socialism '? fm the pan several decades. Even today. may questions ? - lave yet to be resolved. many objective laws are waiting !E-ft be studied and experiences revkwed. As the central Wei at pointed out. we should build a socialism to ..wit China's national conditions and develop productive forces as soot as possible. This includes absorbing the good experiences of other countries. This involves the question of how to uphold socialism. Fiat, we should understand what is real and what is take socialism. Only by thoroughly criticizing the fake social- ism of the "Gang of Four" can we uphold real socialism. Second. socialism has more than one model. As long as the general principle is the same. socialism could be atried out in a hundred different ways. Before we only knew bow to copy the Soviet Union. We did it because the Soviet Union was the only socialist country at the time. Later we criticized the Soviet Uaion but we were still thinking in the same way. We thought there was only one way to achieve socialism no alternatives. Only by comparing an one distinguish and recognize. Only after comparing our methods with those of other countries such as Yugoslavia and Romania did we find out that there could be different methods. Therefore, to uphold socialism. we should have a clear understanding df these issues. This also explains that we cannot uphold social- ism unless we emancipate our thinking. Upholding socialism does not mean maintaining the status quo and copying everything indiscriminately. We should not copy the 10 years of the "cultural revolution": nor should we copy the 17 years before the "cultural revolu. lion." or course. certain things should still be done in accordance with the methods used during that 17 years. but they are not sufficient. We must create new methods so solve new problems. Failing to solve these problems will make upholding socialism impossible. Because of this, we should not advocate emancipating our thinking under the prerequisite of the four upholds. I disagree with this view. We should reverse it--only by persisting in emancipating thinking can we uphold socialism. You say we need to uphold socialism. but what kind of socialism? There is no fixed model for socialism. then what is the method most suited to China's conditions? We should let the public discuss these questions. How an they discuss anything if their thinking is not eman- cipated? Some erroneous and popular views of the past are mistaken for the only way to socialism. For instance. socialism does not allow recruits so everybody must be assigned under socialism: otherwise. it workers are recruited. it would not be socialism. What is this non. aerie? For another instance, the planned economy. which r'{'also waiting to be studied. may be practiced in differ~aaf ways. Only by so doing can we develop the dteoty of socialism. How can we develop the theory of =socialism if we do not emancipate our thinking? Many ,practices coma be continued. Since Stalin's problems stopped up. the Soviet Union realized that they could not succeed by copying all of Stalin' methods and that . tlltey had to make some changes. Chairman Mao also seatized this fact and tried to create some new methods. as a result. when Chairman Mao criticized dogmatism %lfbre the year 1957, he urged us to think before copying tike Soviet Union so that we could learn from their positive experiences. and draw lessons from their nega- live ones. The Soviet Union also changed. They attached importance to material incentive or material reward-I cannot Had much difference between the meanings of these two phrases after consulting with many dictionar- ies. The Soviet Union has indeed taken this road. In 19S8 we put politics in command. Later we engrged in class struggle, using it to determine everything; askey link. and to promote production. After all these years. if we look back and use practice to test the several theories which guided us through these years. we would find art-we need not to be evasive--that the 10 years of turmoil has pushed the national economy to the brink of collapse. How can you afford not to review this theory? How can you refuse to recognize such a practice? Many people at home and abroad say that we have turned into "revisionists" and that our line has changed. It is true that our line has changed. It was the ultra-left guiding ideology that occupied a dominant position during the "cultural revolution." How an we afford not to change it? But. changing the line is not the same as revisionism. In fact. the "revisionist line" is not an appropriate term. Why? Revisionism initially was referred to the theory of Bernstein and his like. It was a theoretical issue. If a theory contradicts the basic tenets of Marxism. it is called revisionism. As for the issue of line. it is either Left or Right opportunist line: there is no revisionist line. The basic tenets of Marxism are univer- sal truth which is a criterion for the whole wide world. "Revising" "such a criterion is the same as opposing Marxism and thus should be objected. We cannot say a basic tenet was good yesterday but is no good today because it covers a very long period of time. As for the line itself. it should change as situations change. We had one line for the period of democratic revolution and another for the period of socialist revolution. We even had different lines for different stages of the socialist period. Therefore. the term. the revisionist line. lives people an illusion as if there ought to he a permanent line that will stay the same forever like "doing everything according to existing principles" which was advocated. by the "Gang of Four." You have to do everything according to existing principles and lines: otherwise. you are nwisionists--this is the exact logic Lianjt Xian 127-1.1 240(ti used in his article carried by live "t it IANt i Mi I Nt i RIbAO." It says: After Marx died, Engrl% waged a C00042349 J19108-CAR-1184% i9 S&pkmbcr Igo struggle against opportunism according to existing prin- liberation of our thinking because we need to emancipate cipks; after Eagels died, Leain followed Marx' and our yliaking to uphold Marxism and Mao Zcdong Fag ls' existing principles` later Win followed Lenin's Thought; otherwise, we cannot uphold Marxism and 1ig9 prindpim mad Chairman Mao too followed Mao Zedoaig Thought. ' ..: fig principles. As a result. our current principles are Marx* prtacipks. This is aiksolutely absurd a+seeta- +lkink that atteryearsofpactice.Chairman Mao's 1957 ':'+speck on correctly handling contradictions among the ift people has been proved basially correct. Restoring some of the them in this speech which have been forgotten tin t wean is that socialism still needs to be shaped and - Am Is a vast world where much an be aecontpliat-ed by i' gad abandoned is exwdy what we aced to do now. For 409aace. the phrase that the class struggle has been gut tllteoretiat and other workers in ehis field. To do so, ? y completed is a lng-forgotten sentence and we to chi kin Theref 1 gtere mtanc tt ~ t a our a ore a stir st a comp ete don. How can there be a complete theory or socialisin g. tp : ,. t e eVsus . y iMave unrict! to mention h spin. There are also some Is an scientific basis roe the argument that Chainnaa `: SirtiblemL ~ same socialist period. first he said . .r .? i .._ *'~. had l before socialist construction ii completed? It is ofcourse possible for theory to precede practice. but theory could not be completed before practice is completed. Do we have a complete understanding of capitalism? No, we do mot. After -Dos Kapitat" we had to study "Imperialism. the Highest Stage of Capitalism." After "Imperialism. a sow ww... w.v..,s ..b v.w~~w.. ;.~ j, .,,..,. ., j, ~.,.? daily. These two sentences contradict. If one of them is the truth. the other would not be. So it is impossible for every sentence to be the truth; neither is it possible for us to follow every instruction. Since the tenets of a com- plete system usually are-consistent. the inconsistency of- tts tenets explains that our understanding of socialist construction and revolution has not been completed. Chairman Mao urged us in 1962 to understand the realm of necessity--the socialist construction of China and we have not been able to accomplish it. When did we complete our understanding of democratic revolution? As far as the theoretical system was concerned. we did not set forth the general line for the new democratic revolution-namely. a revolution led by the proletariat and the masses of people to oppose imperialism, feudal- ism. and bureaucratic capitalism-until 1949 right before the victory of the democratic revolution. Later in the article "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship " he was still reviewing this experience, but by that tittle the theory was complete because the practice of demo- cratic revolution was completed and the theory was tested to be correct. Now we have this problem: Some instructions contradict others and we cannot follow every one of them. What do we do? There is only one thing we can do-we resolutely follow those instructions which- have been proved correct in practice in accor. dance with the criterion of practice. So. quoting a sentence from Chairman Mao's 1957 speech-the large- scale. violent mass class struggle has been basically completed-at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Party Central Committee does not mean that we stick to each and every instruction. Instead. it means that this instruc- tion has been proved correct after over 20 years of practice. Why did we not quote other words? We did not quote other words because they have not been tested in practice. These questions not only concern our attitude toward our leaders and political stand but also concern the s ucoessand failure and the life and death ofsocialisnt the Highest Stage of Capitalism" we bad to study other aspects of capitalism. When will we be able to complete our understanding of capitalism? After the death of capitalism. Only then an we study the whole process of birth. development. and death and thereby complete our understanding of capitalism. We cannot even complete our understanding of capitalism not to mention social- ism. Therefore, we must emancipate our thinking to develop Marxism. People used to think in the past that theoretical issue was only a leader's responsibility. This idea came from the Soviet Union and Chinese tradition. Each dynasty had a sage such as Yao, Shun. Yu. Tang. Wen. Wu. Zhougong. Confucius. and Mencius. Only their words can be used for criterion or the "so?alled "Confucian Orthodoxy" and other people's words are worthless. A theory should be developed by the collective including the masses of people and theoretical workers. and everybody can make a contribution and help develop it. We are all fools, but even a fool can occasion- ally hit on a good idea. By adding such ideas together. we would be able to improve our theory. For many years we were not used to thinking for ourselves; we used to wait for the central government and Chairman Mao to say something and then we would do whatever Chairman Mao. told us to do. Now we cannot rely on them anymore. We need to study many teachings of Chairman Mao. but there are no ready-made answers to many new questions. This forces us to think for ourselves. thus bringing life and hope back to our theoretical work. There still may be great development in China's theoret- ical undertaking. Marxism and Mae Zedoag Thought Parch lapirks in our country. Some people still cannot get over the ad Criticisws lingering fear. They say. you are probably right now. Hat what happens if there is another "cultural revolution." I say, if there is another -cultural revolution," whether or I'd like to address another issue: how to treat Marxism not you will he criticired would not constitute an issue and Mao Zedong Thought. When we bring up the issue because the issue would he whether or not the nation and of the four upholds, we should not set it against the the party will survive. C00042349 lPRS.CAR401-056 19 September 19*11 That Marxism permits criticism was originally an ides advanced by Chairman Mao in his 1957 Wport on contradiction among the people . Chairman Mao said. Marxism has been considered as a guiding ideology in our country. then can we criticize it?Ofcourse. Marxism would be odes if it were afraid I. be criticized. Instead of being afraid of criticism. Marxism invites it in order to develop during the struggle. In act, the petty boor. Reoisie. bottgeoisie.and other people are criticizing Marxism era~r day. aren't W. They criticize it every day. Some arm Mr criticisms and others are trot. CIa you Itio0 diem $MI criticising? No. it is impossible. .S We have to 441sliapish between opposing socialism and oppotigg Maisistn sad between doubting socialism and apposing silllbrn in action. to China. socialism is our basic syslam and the evendbdming majority of people support it. So you cannot oppose it. Nowadays. some ' . young people are confused. They doubt socialism and do not understand what socialism is. They thought the iron rice bowl and eating from the same big pot 12 months a year means socialism. What does that have anything to do with socialism? They do not know and we cannot blame them. We should blame ourselves, for we did not do a good job. if you oppose socialism in action. like instigating a group of people. founding some kind of an organization. or calling on the people to overthrow socialism. then, sorry. you would be violating the criminal law. it is of course allowed to have some doubts about socialism. It is also allowed to have some doubts about Marxism. Why can't we have doubts about it since Chairman Mao said it was Okay to criticize It? We should distinguish between party and non-party members. If a party member says I don't believe in Marxism or Mao Zedong Thought at all. we should ask: Why did you join the party? It is not strange for the masses outside the party to have different kinds of thinking. We should use a proletarian world outlook to educate and reform them. which is a long-term task. All non-proletarian thinkings including the anti- Marxist thinking will exist for a long time to come. We should educate or criticize people with such thoughts but we cannot prohibit such thoughm according to Chairman Mao. What can we do about the anti-Marxist thinking? If our enemies have such thoughts. it will be easy-just forbid their talking. What happens if it is one of our people? We can only let him talk first and then educate and criticize him by reasoning with and talking so him. Therefore. first. we should not be afraid of criticism; second. we cannot possibly stop them from criticizing: and third we should permit criticism. Is criticism good or bad to Marxism? It is pod. Many people are scared to death as if allowing criticism could damage our stand and Mao Zedong Thought. i say Chairman Mao himself thought differently. He said: Marxism develops during the process of a struggle and it stops when people stop criticizing. To prevent Marxism from turning into dog- matism. an important measure is to allow a hundred schools to contend. 13 . POLITICAL I can tell you something else. in April 1957. 1 met Chairman Mao and heard him say face to face that Marxism including the bask tenets of Marxism. permits criticism. He said it did not wand good to say it is Okay so criticize the iittdividuel theories of Marxism but not the basic of Marxism. So. when he wrote his speech. he just said in a general term that Marxism can -use criticized. Amt. we did not follow his instruction. Later at a propa- janda work conference. someone said that a hundred schools referred to only two schools-capitalist and proletarian. An confusing the issue of avowing a hun- __plyd schools to=atend. All thinkings were categorized into either bourgeois or proletarian. In other words. if were not bougeois. You mast be proletarian. What lym belonged to the bow p~. Everything that was wrong. is if the proletarian ideology was so pure that it could not .as any mistake at all whereas the bourgeoisie had all the mistakes. As a result. every ideology was labeled. This practice may be traced further back to "The Theory of Practice" where there was a sentence saying that all ideologies were stamped with the brand of a class. Of course many ideologies were stamped with the brand of a clasm but does every ideology have a class nature? Later during the "Gnat Cultural Revolution." this sentence became the basis for the theory of blood relationship. You were branded with a dais as soon as you were born. The brands of certain classes were especially deep. such as the "son ofa bitch" dart and the four black categories. The several red categories were also branded with a class which was born red. These brands of classes could never be erased. Can we categorize all ideologies into either bourgeois or proletarian? Many ideologies have a class nature but many don't. What kind of a class nature does the thinking of natural science such as Einstein's theory of relativity have? What class does social science such as Morgan's ancient sociology belong to? Another question Is: Are there only two classes? Can landlords be consid- ered a class? Can farmers and small producers be con- sidered a class? How about the petty bourgeoisie in urban areas? How come we only singled out the hour- gcoisie? Since only two classes were noticed, someone later put forward the slogan of eliminating bourgeois ideology and fostering proletarian ideology as if on the ideological front all we had to fight was only one bour- geois ideology. When did we criticize the influence of feudalism and petty production over all these years? Never. In fact, we saw that feudal influence was much greater and worse than bourgeois influence. What we did was let slip by the thinkings of the 1. ?xlknd class and feudalism. As a result. feudal thinking merged during the criticism of the bourgeoisie. For instance. during the "Great Cultural Revolution" women were not allowed to wear skirts or braids. I also saw a big-character poster opposing men and women swimming together and say- ing that women's swimsuits looked ridiculous in the pool. I think in the past 20 years we have failed to raise antideudalism to a proper level on our ideological front. The fact that the government work report at this people's congress mentioned the issue of anti-feudalism indicates C00042349 JPRS-CA249-os6 19 SeliEearier 193e 14 Bleat progress, As I mentioned before. someone at a ptapapthda wale txmfent nc~e said that a hundred schools trelierted to truly two schools, which was howeverehanged in the "May 16 Circular," Originally we were told that various erroneous thinkings among the people should be fft.wlk weld iced and corrected through persuaaoa and teason- safived by holding one ore two l they 'altsMld be solved by presenting the bets and reasoning ddW out. later. the "May 16 Circular" ariticized the view that everybody is equal before the truth. In other ...~ b ye asp d 1d~tha yproletari~at ods exercise dictatorship over do bourgeoisie is the sphere afsttpetstrtrcthnre in cl ding the ideological shphere. Such a l s to dtctatotsltsp mace it lmpo ouUm nor a hundred schoo ~ottlad. 'Deere ore. a hundred schools contending became two schools contending. which later became one school singing solo. What was the last school? Was it Marxism? No. It was the school of Lis Dino and the "Gang of Four." The movement of combating and preventing revision. ism originally was to oppose changing the basic tenets of Marxism. Later. it turned into a movement to establish absolute authority fora leader and ensuring that China will new change its politics] color also became a means to establish a leader's absolute authority. Every word this authority said was absolutely correct and did not need to be tested through practice. Whoever criticized or vio- lated some of his words beibre or after he died would be likened to Khruschev. accused of opposing Mao Zedong Thought. and considered a bad guy to be punished by the whole party and nation. As a result. in the process of combating and preventing revisionism. a personality cult pined ground. In 1956, we drew lessons from Soviet experiences and wrote an article. "On the Historical Experience of Proletarian Dictatorship," to criticize Sta- lin's personality cult. which was the right thing to do. In the report to the Eighth National People's Congress on the amendment of the Party Constitution. Comrade Deng Xiaoping said there was a reflection of a personal- ity cult inside our party. Later, this view was changed. On the issue of Stalin. the second criticism of the "Nine Criticisms," which was adapted from the speech of a certain "adviser." never even mentioned the mistakes of his personality cult. Instead. it said criticizing personal- ity cult was completely wrong for it violated Lenin's theories on the masses, class. political parties. and lead- em thus paving the way for the development of a personality cult and resulting in serious and disastrous consequences. These views all violated the criterion of lath. Latin's teachings on the masses, class. political parties, and leaden is that the masses are of different classes, the party represents classes. and leaders repre- sent the party. It is true that leaden represent the party. dosses, and the masses. but we cannot my that every- thing a leader does must represent the masses. that believing in leaders means believing in the muses. and that the personality cult does not exist. Leaders can also depart from the people; therefore. not every word and deed of leaden absolutely, undoubtedly conform to the people's interests. Leaders sometimes can make mis- takes. Chairman Mao himself once said: "No party or person an~~brd making mistakes." Un Biao advocated that "everytt>hing Chairman Mao said is the truth." I'd like to ask him: lsn't this remark of Chairman Mao also the truth? Chairman Mao said no one, Including himself oaf course. con avoid commiting mistakes. This remark most also be the truth if whatever Chairman Mao said is 4he troth as Lis Biao advocated. However. if this remark is the truth, "whatever he said is the truth" would become impossible. Due to many years of propaganda. this view has been ingmined: therefore. trying to set . thins right. solving these problems. and emancipating our thinking has become a very arduous task. This requires a certain process. Of course. we should also realize and notice that some people oppose our efforts to at things right because they ate on the side of the "Gang of Four." But a large number of masses have no bad intention. They are against the "Gang of Four." but since they have had too much of this propaganda and have not paid much attention.. to their political-study-__ they resent what we are trying to do now. Our RENMIN RiRAO has received many letters. especially from PLA soldiers, protesting: Don't attack people here and there by innuendo and stop doing such things. These comrades are food comrades. They do not necessarily think that Chairman Mao had made no mistakes. It is just that they can not accept this psychologically. We need to carry out propaganda steadily. Propaganda needs discipline. but what kind? It is very hard to say. It is a process. We cannot say certain things during a certain period; but after a while. it will be all right. Maybe we cannot say this today. but we will be able to say it after a certain period. Therefore. we need to advance steadily and help some people by working with them to change their thinking. but never hurt their feelings. We should advance steadily not only to propaganda but also in all fields including democratic and reform issues. Old bad practices die hard. We now have so many problems which are forming not a pile but a mountain. So. when we sort out these problems, we can only work at a steady pace. We should not vacillate. Vacillation is no good. Don't vacillate, advance steadily. This is why we cannot discuss certain things now but we will be able to after a while. Take the issue of sham leftist and real rightist, for example. Some people say that this still has not been corrected. and I agree. When an article on this issue was first published, it was risky to talk about an issue which was considered a forbidden zone. Chairman Mao said himself that Un Biao was an extreme rightist. The only way to indicate sham leftist, real rightist was by placing quotation- marks around the word "leftist. " You now say be was an extreme leftist. so now an unquoted leftist has come to mean sham, and a quoted "leftist" means real. Later after the situation developed. it was all Might to talk about the extreme leftist line. Therefore. Wings are developing and ideologial liberation requires a process. Eliminating the forbidden none also requires a process. For instance, the Liu Shangi forbidden ,one has 000042349 JPRS-CAR..U-056 _! September 1911 Is POLITICAL Barra may in we past taming about snstgs like taking the privsseges should be eliminated. ' t $m us gibe or Ibis and that as the key fink. So based on ; ... ,. . Alas saint. their thinking is conservative. There are :-m. ..a <......