From: detcom-AT-sprynet.com Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 20:00:11 -0700 Subject: INVINCIBLE WEAPON --Part 1 Greetings. The following is from a small book written and published in China during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution entitled: "Mao Tse-tung Thought is the Invincible Weapon". It contains several accounts of how workers, peasants and members of the Red Army used Dialectical Materialism in their labors and tasks. I am posting this again 'cause the first time I sent it to this new list, there were very few subscribers. Please let me know any thoughts you may have concerning these excerpts. I would like to hear how people are using Dialectical Materialism to resolve contradictions in their labors and in their political activities. -Jay / Detroit MATERIALIST DIALECTICS HELPS FIGHTERS MAKE IDEOLOGICAL PROGRESS BY CHEN CHIN-YUAN (Political instructor of the Red Ninth Company of a P.L.A. unit) The political and ideological work in a P.L.A. company is to advance the ideological progress of the fighters. It is to arm them with the thought of Mao Tse-tung, continuously to consolidate and expand the proletarian ideology and overcome all sorts of non-proletarian ideologies. In this way Mao Tse-tung's thought will take firm root in the minds of the fighters, and the backward comrades will be turned into advanced comrades and the already advanced comrades into even more advanced ones. To do this work well, one must first of all have a revolutionary spirit of enterprise and sense of duty: always having in mind the cause of the Party, the building of the company and the steeling of the fighters into lifelong revolutionaries. Apart from this, one must also have a correct way of thinking and a correct method of work, i.e., a grasp of materialist dialectics. We have learned from experience that whenever we try and apply dialectics in our work, we achieve good results, and whenever we fall victim to metaphysics and subjective one-sidedness, we find ourselves in a fix--no matter how hard we work, we cannot gain the anticipated results. In this article I will relate some of our experiences in applying materialist dialectics to help the advanced as well as the backward comrades. MAKE A CORRECT ANALYSIS OF THE BACKWARD COMRADES In the past we took too gloomy a view of the backward comrades. Consciously or unconsciously, we treated them indifferently and were rather over-critical. As a result they lost confidence in themselves and the other comrades also lacked confidence in being able to help their progress. What was the reason for all this? It was mainly because we failed to make a basic analysis of them with the method of one dividing itself into two, exaggerating their shortcomings and taking them too seriously and regarding them as not lending themselves to correction. The shortcomings which were secondary we looked upon as primary and the minor questions as the essential ones. Therefore we did not believe they could make progress. There is a fighter in Squad One who constantly blundered in the first days of his service. Once he was assigned as a sham enemy in a night searching exercise. When the comrades set about combing him out, he was not to be seen anywhere. They searched and searched until the small hours and still they could not see a soul. It turned out he had long returned to the barracks to sleep. His repeated blunders made him cut a very poor figure in the eyes of the comrades and they stopped expecting him to have any strong points at all. He was subjected to constant criticisms, sometimes without grounds. Consequently his relations with the other comrades were getting more and more strained. To help this fighter we got together the core members in the squad to make a basic analysis of his case by the method of one dividing itself into two. We first asked everyone to point out all his shortcomings and good points and then went on to analyse their nature. This made the core members see that his good points were the essential factors in him and the shortcomings non-essential. As their minds became clearer through such analysis they had a different opinion of this fighter and the other comrades in the squad also took a new attitude towards him. They repeatedly spoke of his good points and often praised him for them. As to his shortcomings, they used the method of "crushing the enemy one by one", fighting an "annihilation campaign" against one of them at a time. Thus encouraged and helped, this fighter became very enthusiastic and has improved remarkably. We gather from this example that we must have a basic analysis of our fighters. All the fighters' thinking can be divided into two aspects: they have positive factors as well as passive factors, strong points as well as weak points. But these two aspects are never equal in proportion. Generally speaking, the positive factors are always the essential, main aspect. Compared with the advanced comrades, the backward comrades have more weak points and their progress is slower. But it does not follow that the passive factors constitute what are essential in them or are their main aspect. The overwhelming majority of our fighters are of worker or peasant origin. Their personal interests are fund- amentally identical with those of the revolution. All of them are eager to improve themselves and become Chairman Mao's good fighters. The old ideologies and old habits which have contaminated them can be gradually eliminated through self-remoulding. Having made a basic analysis of the backward comrades, one will be able to have a deep class feeling towards them and have great confidence in their progress. Without such an analysis and looking at things in a subjective and one-sided way, one is bound to exaggerate their shortcomings out of all proportion and take the non-essential, transient, passive phenomena as something essential, fall a prey to inactivity and pessimism, and lose the impetus to help them. To make a basic analysis of the backward comrades will also help these comrades to have a correct appraisal of themselves. Disheartened by their own shortcomings, these comrades often take a one-sided view of themselves and lack the confidence to make progress. Not infrequently when the leadership shows more trust in these backward comrades, they become more sure of themselves, more enthusiastic and make greater progress, while when the leadership does not trust them they get more dispirited, less energetic and their progress is even slower. The flucuations in the morale of these comrades in the progress of their advancement often have a lot to do with the attitude and method of work we adopt towards them. ENCOURAGING BACKWARD COMRADES TO DEVELOP THEIR OWN INITIATIVE IN IDEOLOGICAL REMOULDING Chairman Mao says that materialist dialectics holds that "external causes are the condition of change and internal causes are the basis of change, and that external causes become operative through internal causes." The most important thing in helping the backward comrades is to induce them to seek "battles" in their own minds, to remould themselves of their own accord. Only by fighting such "battles" on their own initiative, can the proletarian ideology in their minds vanquish the non-proletarian ideologies and can the backward turn into the advanced. If they do not fight such "battles" against themselves and just face the "battles" launched by others against them, then not only will such "battles" be lost, but the result will be a deadlock in the relations between the comrades, making a nice mess of the whole thing. On the other hand, external causes also play an important part in the development of things. The help given by the leadership and comrades has a great influence on the changing of a backward comrade. Under no circumstances should we overemphasize the role of the internal causes to the exclusion of that of the external causes in order to shirk our duty or slacken our efforts to help the backward comrades. But to be sure, the external causes can become operative only through the internal causes. In helping these comrades, we must tackle their problems >from the political angle, find out what is troubling them most, encourage them to fight the ideological struggle to eradicate bourgeois ideas and foster proletarian ones, and raise their political consciousness. The political instructor is the commander on the political and ideological front in a company. Our battlefield is in the minds of our fighters. Our task is to help them win the battle of eradicating bourgeois ideas and fostering proletarian ones. The better and more to the point our work, the more effective this battle and the greater their progress. If we do not work hard or use an incorrect method, we will be of little help in their mental battle. to be continued in part 2
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