Page 40 - SELECTED WORKS OF MAO TSE-TUNG Volume III.indd

38 MAO TSE-TUNG
or philosophy to memory, reciting glibly from Chapter I to Chapter
X, but is utterly unable to apply them, can he be considered a
Marxist theorist? No! He cannot. What kind of theorists do we
want? We want theorists who can, in accordance with the Marxist-
Leninist stand, viewpoint and method, correctly interpret the
practical problems arising in the course of history and revolution
and give scientific explanations and theoretical elucidations of
China’s economic, political, military, cultural and other problems.
Such are the theorists we want. To be a theorist of this kind, a
person must have a true grasp of the essence of Marxism-Leninism,
of the Marxist-Leninist stand, viewpoint and method and of the
theories of Lenin and Stalin on the colonial revolution and the
Chinese revolution, and he must be able to apply them in a penetrat-
ing and scientific analysis of China’s practical problems and discover
the laws of development of these problems. Such are the theorists
we really need.
The Central Committee of our Party has now made a decision
calling upon our comrades to learn how to apply the Marxist-Leninist
stand, viewpoint and method in the serious study of China’s history,
and of China’s economics, politics, military affairs and culture, and
to analyse every problem concretely on the basis of detailed material
and then draw theoretical conclusions. This is the responsibility we
must shoulder.
Our comrades in the Party School should not regard Marxist
theory as lifeless dogma. It is necessary to master Marxist theory
and apply it, master it for the sole purpose of applying it. If you
can apply the Marxist-Leninist viewpoint in elucidating one or two
practical problems, you should be commended and credited with
some achievement. The more problems you elucidate and the more
comprehensively and profoundly you do so, the greater will be your
achievement. Our Party School should also lay down the rule to
grade students good or poor according to how they look at China’s
problems after they have studied Marxism-Leninism, according to
whether or not they see the problems clearly and whether or not
they see them at all.
Next let us talk about the question of the “intellectuals”. Since
China is a semi-colonial, semi-feudal country and her culture is not
well developed, intellectuals are particularly treasured. On this ques-
tion of the intellectuals, the Central Committee of the Party made
the decision over two years ago that we should win over the great
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