Page 132 - SELECTED WORKS OF LIU SHAOQI Volume I

128 LIU SHAOQI
Time and again Comrade Mao Zedong has emphasized the
tremendous importance of cultivating oneself in the theory of Marxism-
Leninism. He has said:
From the Marxist viewpoint, theory is important, and its im-
portance is fully expressed in Lenin’s statement, “Without revolu-
tionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement.” But
Marxism emphasizes the importance of theory precisely and only
because it can guide action. 98
Comrade Mao Zedong has constantly urged all Party members who
have some capacity for study to study Marxist-Leninist theory, study
the actual conditions of the movement, study Chinese and world
history and learn to guide their actions by Marxist-Leninist theory,
and also to help educate comrades with a lower cultural and theoret-
ical level. The whole Party should at all times bear in mind this
injunction of Comrade Mao Zedong’s.

Ⅴ. THE CAUSE OF COMMUNISM IS THE GREATEST
AND MOST ARDUOUS UNDERTAKING
IN HUMAN HISTORY

Now let us continue with our discussion of ideological self-cultiva-
tion by Communist Party members.
What does ideological self-cultivation mean? Fundamentally, in
my opinion, it means that every Party member should use proletarian
ideology to combat whatever non-proletarian ideas he has, use the
communist world outlook to combat whatever non-communist world
outlook he has and use the principle of the supremacy of the interests
of the proletariat, the people and the Party to combat his individualism.
This struggle is one of conflicting ideologies, and it reflects the
class struggle in society. For a Party member, the result of this struggle
should be that the proletarian ideology overcomes and ultimately
eliminates all other ideologies, that the communist world outlook over-
comes and ultimately eliminates any non-communist world outlook and
that ideas based on the general interests and aims of the Party, of the
revolution and of the emancipation of the proletariat and all mankind
overcome and ultimately eliminate all individualism. If the opposite
happens, that is, if the latter prevails over the former, the comrade