From: detcom-AT-sprynet.com
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 00:08:53 -0800
Subject: M-G: COMBAT LIBERALISM  by Mao Tse-tung


================================================================COMBAT LIBERALISM

We stand for active ideological struggle because it is the
weapon for ensuring unity within the Party and the revolutionary
organizations in the interest of our fight.  Every Communist and
revolutionary should take up this weapon.

But liberalism rejects ideological struggle and stands for
unprincipled peace, thus giving rise to a decadent, philistine
attitude and bringing about political degeneration in certain units
and individuals in the Party and the revolutionary organizations.

Liberalism manifests itself in various ways.

To let things slide for the sake of peace and friendship when
a person has clearly gone wrong, and refrain from principled
argument because he is an old acquaintance, a fellow townsman,
a schoolmate, a close friend, a loved one, an old colleague or old
subordinate.  Or to touch on the matter lightly instead of going
into it thoroughly, so as to keep on good terms.    The result is that
both the organization and the individual are harmed.  This is one
type of liberalism.

To indulge in irresponsible criticism in private instead of actively
putting forward one's suggestions to the organization.  To
say nothing to people to their faces but to gossip behind their
backs, or to say nothing at a meeting but to gossip afterwards.  To
show no regard at all for the principles of collective life but to
follow one's own inclination.  This is a second type.

To let things drift if they do not affect one personally; to say
as little as possible while knowing perfectly well what is wrong,
to be worldly wise and play safe and seek only to avoid blame.
This is a third type.

Not to obey orders but to give pride of place to one's own
opions.  To demand special consideration from the organization
but to reject its discipline.  This is a fourth type.

To indulge in personal attacks, pick quarrels, vent personal
spite or seek revenge instead of entering into an argument and
srtuggling against incorrect views for the sake of unity or progress
or getting the work done properly.  This is a fifth type.

To hear incorrect views without rebutting them and even to
hear counter-revolutionary remarks without reporting them, but
instead to take them calmly as if nothing had happened.  This is
a sixth type.

To be among the masses and fail to conduct propaganda and
agitiation or speak at meetings or conduct investigations and
inquiries among them, and instead to be indifferent to them and
show no concern for their well-being, forgetting that one is a
Communist and behaving as if one were an ordinary non-Communist
This is a seventh type.

To see someone harming the interests of the masses and yet
not feel indignant, or dissuade or stop him or reason with him,
but to allow him to continue.  This is an eight type.

To work half-heartedly without a definite plan or direction;
to work perfunctorilly and muddle along--"So long as one remains
a monk, one goes on tollng the bell."  This is a ninth type.

To regard oneself as having rendered great service to the
revolution, to pride oneself on being a veteran, to disdain minor
assignments while being quite unequal to major tasks, to be
slipshod in work and slack in study.  This is a tenth type.

To be aware of one's own mistakes and yet make no attempt
to correct them, taking a liberal attitude towards oneself.  This
is an eleventh type.

We could name more.  But these eleven are the principal types

They are all manifestations of liberalism.

Liberalism is extremely harmful in a revolutionary collective.
It is a corrosive which eats away unity, undermines cohesion,
causes apathy and creates dissension.  It robs the revolutionary
ranks of compact organization and strict discipline, prevents
policies from being carried through and alienates the Party
organizations from the masses which the Party leads.  It is an
extremely bad tendency.

Liberalism stems from petty-bourgeois selfishness, it places
personal interests first and the interests of the revolution second,
and this gives to ideological, political and organizational
liberalism.

People who are liberals look upon the principles of Marxism
as abstract dogma.  They approve of Marxism, but are not
prepared to practise it or to practise it in full;  they are not
prepared to replace their liberalism by Marxism.  These people
have their Marxism, but they have their liberalism as well -- they
talk Marxism but practice liberalism; they apply Marxism to
others but liberalism to themselves.  They keep both kinds of
goods in stock and find a use for each.  This is how the minds
of certain people work.

Liberalism is a manifestation of opportunism and conflicts
fundamentally with Marxism.  It is negative and objectively has
the effect of helping the enemy; that is why the enemy welcomes
its preservation in our midst.  Such being its nature, there should
be no place for it in the ranks of the revolution.

We must use Marxism, which is positive in spirit, to overcome
liberalism, which is negative.  A Communist should have largeness
of mind and he should be staunch and active, looking upon the
interests of the revolution as his very life and subordinating his
personal interests to those of the revolution; always and every-
where he should adhere to principle and wage a tireless struggle
against all incorrect ideas and actions, so as to consolidate the
collective life of the Party and strengthen the ties between the
Party and the masses; he should be more concerned about the
Party and the masses than about any individual, and more
concerned about others than about himself.  Only thus can he be
considered a Communist.

All loyal, honest, active and upright Communists must unite
to oppose the liberal tendencies shown by certain people among
us, and set them on the right path.  This is one of the tasks on our
ideological front.

Mao Tse-Tung
September 7, 1937
===================================================================


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