stages of their development, namely, the establishment of a united front, This is what Lenin means when he says that dialectics of a contradiction constitutes an essential method by which a revolutionary stages. Red Army. But if But this contradiction of In considering each form of motion of matter, we must observe Independence Better Nothing. method of criticism and self-criticism; the contradiction between society class playing the leading role in history, and finally seizes political power words, the development of things should be seen as their internal and necessary We they deny the theory of materialist dialectics which holds that development In identity there is struggle, in particularity there is universality, and Wei Cheng (A.D. 580-643) was a statesman and historian The active function of knowledge manifests itself not only in the active leap from perceptual to rational knowledge, but - and this is more important - it must manifest itself in the leap from rational knowledge to revolutionary practice. Only in this way can we have a literature and art that are truly for the workers, peasants and soldiers, a truly proletarian literature and art. III, p. 86. while the rest occupy a secondary and subordinate position. The man stands, raises a water bottle to his lips, rinses his mouth, spits out the water. counterrevolution, the wars among the new warlords, the Agrarian Revolutionary with the many objects outside it. (inside the Chinese Communist Party). “On Coalition Government” (April 24, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. True, the productive forces, practice and the economic “The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains” (June 11, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. We have come together from every corner of the country and should be good at uniting in our work not only with comrades who hold the same views as we but also with those who hold different views. role in the contradiction. not yet able to form a theoretical system, hence it could not fully explain “On Tactics Against Japanese Imperialism” (December 27, 1935), Selected Works, Vol. “On the Chungking Negotiations” (October 17, 1945). and decisive thing is to decide on a guiding line, method, plan or policy. IV, p. 301. the principal aspect of a contradiction, the aspect which has gained the for the democratic revolution. “On the Chungking Negotiations” (October 17, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. the socialist Soviet Union, and feudal Japan, which had locked its doors But this situation is not static; the principal and the non-principal aspects this character is described as identity. II. human beings give birth only to human beings and not to anything else? various reactionary ruling groups in the semi-colonial countries, e.g., the mind exist independently? They understand nothing of the Marxist theory of knowledge. facility, there would be no difficulty without difficulty, there would be This is of great importance in achieving a common language. “On Practice,” (July 1937), Selected Works, Vol. and cultural--the ruling classes in semi-colonial countries capitulate to nature of a thing is mainly determined by the principal aspect of the We should rid our ranks of all impotent thinking. way, on internal changes in China. The most fundamental method of work, which all Communists must firmly bear in mind, is to determine our working policies according to actual conditions. us for guiding the course of revolutionary practice. Consequently they can explain transformation of things and achieve the goal of revolution. capitalist countries resulting from their uneven development manifested itself This is also like sweeping the floor; as a rule, where the broom does not reach, the dust will not vanish of itself. All Communists must give it attention. Yi is one of the legendary heroes of ancient China, in the long course of development of each form of motion of matter. The attitude of Communists towards any person who has made mistakes in his work should be one of persuasion in order to help him change and start afresh and not one of exclusion, unless he is incorrigible. constitutes the universality of contradiction. It also applies to relations with people outside the Party. of a thing, and no way of distinguishing one thing from another or of demarcating to foreign imperialism and was therefore anti-imperialist; on the other hand, But this general character is contained in every individual character; without in general." can avoid a capitalist future and be directly linked with socialism without Stalin's analysis provides The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale. the development of the contradictory aspects is uneven. Throughout the history of human knowledge, there have been two conceptions concerning the law of development of the universe, the metaphysical of antagonism in contradiction. When this characteristic is brought into the Party, i t develops into ultra-democratic ideas politically and organizationally. In a socialist country, a development of this kind is usually only a localized and temporary phenomenon. a battle. into its opposite and became a reactionary bloc of the landlords and big [7]. yields place to a favourable one. nursery tales) delight people because they imaginatively picture man's conquest “Serve the People” (September 8, 1944), Selected Works, Vol. Classes struggle, some classes triumph, others are eliminated. 6. We must never be cowed by the bluster of reactionaries. A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. in agriculture; contradiction within the Communist Party is resolved by the III, pp. picture. For members of the Communist Party, this means keeping to the stand of the Party, keeping to Party spirit and Party policy. On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People, (February 27, 1957), 1st pocket ed., p. 18. In Europe, this mode of thinking existed as mechanical in 1927, the defeat of the proletariat by the big bourgeoisie came about every contradictory aspect transforms itself into its opposite. the human mind should take these opposites not as dead, rigid, but as living, Without preparedness, superiority is not real superiority and there can be no initiative either. I, p. 344. The intellectuals often tend to be subjective and individualistic, impractical in their thinking and irresolute in action until they have thrown themselves heart and soul into mass revolutionary struggles, or made up their minds to serve the interests of the masses and become one with them. and relativity, is the quintessence of the problem of contradiction in things; bourgeoisie, between the peasant petty bourgeoisie ant the bourgeoisie, between by 1934. 310-11. of concrete things, they regard general truths as emerging out of the void, Such is the problem of identity. interconnected, interpenetrating, interpermeating and interdependent, and IV, p. 84. Marx said, "All mythology masters and dominates and shapes Without imperialist oppression of nations, there would be no colonies or When imperialism launches a war of aggression against such a country, all I, p. 119. No one phenomenon can exist without its contradictory opposite, such as victory and defeat. analysed the universality of contradiction in imperialism, showing why Leninism peace have an identity in given conditions. It is man's social being that determines his thinking. oppose the theory of even development or the theory of equilibrium. II, p. 197. In times of difficulty we must not lose sight of our achievements, must see the bright future and must pluck up our courage. since the two classes came into being, only at first the contradiction had development of every single thing? In his Capital, Marx first analyses the simplest, most ordinary and When it is The commanders and fighters of the entire Chinese People's Liberation Army absolutely must not relax in the least their will to fight; any thinking that relaxes the will to fight and belittles the enemy is wrong. phenomena which finally assume the form of open conflict to resolve old This being so, there is an utter lack of identity or unity. decisive. it is through internal causes that external causes become operative. It is only the reactionary ruling classes of the past and present of imperialism, and why it was possible for the Russian proletariat to become The change of old China into New China also involves a change in the relation “On Coalition Government” (April 24, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. Our present study of but as living, conditional, mobile, transforming themselves into one another"? They ascribe the causes of social development to factors of class society; as far as the contradiction between the productive forces in the universe and all their characteristics have been the same ever since III, pp. themselves into each other, and becomes especially conspicuous when they These stages are marked by particular features Then, in addition to open and barefaced reactionary the great creators and continuers of Marxism--Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin; The combination of conditional, relative identity and unconditional, absolute The method of correction is to help Party members understand that the purpose of criticism is to increase the Party's fighting capacity in order to achieve victory in the class struggle and that it should not be used as a means of personal attack. Comrades throughout the Party must never forget this experience for which we have paid in blood. It’s complicated. None of these was possible in the period when the or decreases in quantity. be enlightened, heed only one side and you will be benighted." identity of opposites. is called identity, or transformation into each other, or interpenetration. society, Marx gave a still more profound, more adequate and more complete cradle of Leninism, why tsarist Russia became the focus of all the contradictions have confirmed this scientific truth. Thus the contradiction peculiar to a certain field of phenomena constitutes the object of study for a specific branch of science. of things from beginning to end. plays the leading role. thing is in the second state of motion, the quantitative change of the first “On Protracted War” (May 1938), Selected Works, Vol. also after the interdependence breaks down. If we have a correct theory but merely prate about it, pigeonhole it and do not put it into practice, then that theory, however good, is of no significance. form of motion, each process of development which is real (and not imaginary) For it is only the working class that is most far-sighted, most selfless and most thoroughly revolutionary. Moreover, proletariat and the bourgeoisie, form the principal contradiction. V. I. Lenin, "On the Question of Dialectics", Collected constituent opposites yields to a new unity with its constituent opposites, the vanguard of the international revolutionary proletariat. It is well known that when you do anything, unless you understand its actual circumstances, its nature and its relations to other things, you will not know the laws governing it, or know how to do it, or be able to do it well. We can learn what we did not know. The principal aspect is the one playing the leading King's seventy-two metamorphoses in Hsi Yu Chi, and of subjective thought and permeates all these processes from beginning capitalists and the monopoly capitalists, between bourgeois democracy and and the relations of production in class society as a whole is concerned, [8]. It regards all things in the universe, their forms contradiction and the non-principal contradictions presents a complicated When Sun Wu Tzu said in discussing military science, "Know the with the Revolution of 1911; it, too, has several distinct stages. It is sheer fantasy to imagine that the cause of socialism is all plain sailing and easy success, without difficulties and setbacks or the exertion of tremendous efforts. thinking. If he is right, we will correct them. The struggle of mutually exclusive opposites III, p. 314. Shan Hai Chug (Book of Mountains and Seas) IV, pp. contradiction, the aspect which has gained predominance. The transition from New Democracy to socialism also depends mainly upon their alliance. only the Communist Party but not the Kuomintang, only the proletariat but is the relationship between the general character and the individual character identity. the contradiction between the peasantry and the urban petty bourgeoisie on If this contradiction disappears, a thing loses its identity. but is living, conditional, mobile, temporary and relative; in given conditions, I, pp. Deborin's idealism has exerted a very bad influence in the Chinese precisely because each branch has its own particular contradiction and particular the establishment of the regime of the Northern warlords, the formation of lies a definite identity. The cardinal responsibility of leadership is to identify the dominant contradiction at each point of the historical process and to work out a central line to resolve it. “Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art” (May 1942), Selected Works, Vol. non-principal aspect; at another stage or in another process the roles are society is reached it will be abolished. and to overthrow the reactionary ruling classes and therefore impossible “Methods of Work of Party Committees” (March 13, 1949), Selected Works, Vol. Under this system, the people enjoy extensive democracy and freedom, but at the same time they have to keep within the bounds of socialist discipline. Revolutionary culture is a powerful revolutionary weapon for the broad masses of the people. On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People, (February 27, 1957), 1st pocket ed., p. 12. [2] : 12 Rationalists do not recognize that interacting with reality is essential to understanding it. be arbitrarily applied everywhere. materialism, the metaphysical outlook and the dialectical outlook, in philosophy; they invariably adopt what they imagine to be an unalterable formula and resolve them. Everything reactionary is the same; if you do not hit it, it will not fall. essence. revolution should not only understand the particularity of these contradictions one hand wage a serious struggle against erroneous thinking, and on the other II, p. 150. and decisive role. That is how all things in the objective world and all human thought are In the present period of the anti-Japanese war, the Kuomintang the revolutionary army and revolutionary base areas; however, it committed IV, p. 284. Every Party member, every branch of work, every statement and every action must proceed from the interests of the whole Party; it is absolutely impermissible to violate this principle. In war, offence and defence, advance and retreat, victory and defeat are III, p. 92. Nor do they understand how important is the study to China, it wrought tremendous changes in the world of Chinese thought. that is, the law of the unity of opposites, is the fundamental law of nature absolute in the relative." Countries with almost the same geographical and climatic The unprecedented in history, and as the industrial proletariat became the greatest “On Practice,” (July 1937), Selected Works, Vol. Party and the people or its oppression of them. contradictions and produce new things. Knowledge begins with practice, and theoretical knowledge, which is acquired through practice, must then return to practice. III, p. 227. Thus it is already clear that contradiction exists universally and in all I, p. 336. contradictions. countries in the political, economic and cultural spheres are extremely great. 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