Page 21 - SELECTED WORKS OF MAO TSE-TUNG Volume III.indd

REFORM OUR STUDY 19
Second, take the study of history. Although a few Party members
and sympathizers have undertaken this work, it has not been done
in an organized way. Many Party members are still in a fog about
Chinese history, whether of the last hundred years or of ancient
times. There are many Marxist-Leninist scholars who cannot open
their mouths without citing ancient Greece; but as for their own
ancestors — sorry, they have been forgotten. There is no climate
of serious study either of current conditions or of past history.
Third, take the study of international revolutionary experience,
the study of the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism. Many com-
rades seem to study Marxism-Leninism not to meet the needs of
revolutionary practice, but purely for the sake of study. Consequently,
though they read, they cannot digest. They can only cite odd quota-
tions from Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin in a one-sided manner,
but are unable to apply the stand, viewpoint and method of Marx,
Engels, Lenin and Stalin to the concrete study of China’s present
conditions and her history or to the concrete analysis and solution
of the problems of the Chinese revolution. Such an attitude towards
Marxism-Leninism does a great deal of harm, particularly among
cadres of the middle and higher ranks.
The three aspects I have just mentioned, neglect of the study of
current conditions, neglect of the study of history and neglect of
the application of Marxism-Leninism, all constitute an extremely bad
style of work. Its spread has harmed many of our comrades.
There are indeed many comrades in our ranks who have been
led astray by this style of work. Unwilling to carry on systematic and
thorough investigation and study of the specific conditions inside
and outside the country, the province, county or district, they issue
orders on no other basis than their scanty knowledge and “It must be
so because it seems so to me”. Does not this subjectivist style still
exist among a great many comrades?
There are some who are proud, instead of ashamed, of knowing
nothing or very little of our own history. What is particularly significant
is that very few really know the history of the Communist Party of
China and the history of China in the hundred years since the Opium
War. Hardly anyone has seriously taken up the study of the economic,
political, military and cultural history of the last hundred years.
Ignorant of their own country, some people can only relate tales of
ancient Greece and other foreign lands, and even this knowledge is
quite pathetic, consisting of odds and ends from old foreign books.