Page 23 - SELECTED WORKS OF MAO TSE-TUNG Volume III.indd

REFORM OUR STUDY 21
With this attitude, a person does not make a systematic and
thorough study of the environment, but works by sheer subjective
enthusiasm and has a blurred picture of the face of China today.
With this attitude, he chops up history, knows only ancient Greece
but not China and is in a fog about the China of yesterday and the
day before yesterday. With this attitude, a person studies Marxist-
Leninist theory in the abstract and without any aim. He goes to Marx,
Engels, Lenin and Stalin not to seek the stand, viewpoint and method
with which to solve the theoretical and tactical problems of the
Chinese revolution but to study theory purely for theory’s sake. He
does not shoot the arrow at the target but shoots at random. Marx,
Engels, Lenin and Stalin have taught us that we should proceed
from objective realities and that we should derive laws from them
to serve as our guide to action. For this purpose, we should, as
Marx has said, appropriate the material in detail and subject it
to scientific analysis and synthesis. Many of our people do not
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act in this way but do the opposite. A good number of them are
doing research work but have no interest in studying either the China
of today or the China of yesterday and confine their interest to the
study of empty “theories” divorced from reality. Many others are
doing practical work, but they too pay no attention to the study of
objective conditions, often rely on sheer enthusiasm and substitute
their personal feelings for policy. Both kinds of people, relying on
the subjective, ignore the existence of objective realities. When
making speeches, they indulge in a long string of headings, A, B, C, D,
1, 2, 3, 4, and when writing articles, they turn out a lot of verbiage.
They have no intention of seeking truth from facts, but only a desire
to curry favour by claptrap. They are flashy without substance, brittle
without solidity. They are always right, they are the Number One
authority under Heaven, “imperial envoys” who rush everywhere.
Such is the style of work of some comrades in our ranks. To govern
one’s own conduct by this style is to harm oneself, to teach it to
others is to harm others, and to use it to direct the revolution is to
harm the revolution. To sum up, this subjectivist method which is
contrary to science and Marxism-Leninism is a formidable enemy
of the Communist Party, the working class, the people and the nation;
it is a manifestation of impurity in Party spirit. A formidable enemy
stands before us, and we must overthrow him. Only when subjectivism
is overthrown can the truth of Marxism-Leninism prevail, can Party
spirit be strengthened, can the revolution be victorious. We must