File spoon-archives/marxism-general.archive/marxism-general_1996/96-10-19.135, message 27


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


   

Driftline Main Page

 

Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005