Page 43 - SELECTED WORKS OF MAO TSE-TUNG Volume III.indd

RECTIFY THE PARTY’S STYLE OF WORK 41
point the finger of scorn at those who are fond of aimless theorizing.
Marxism-Leninism is the most correct, scientific and revolutionary
truth, born out of and verified by objective reality, but many who
study Marxism-Leninism take it as lifeless dogma, thus impeding
the development of theory and harming themselves as well as
other comrades.
On the other hand, our comrades who are engaged in practical
work will also come to grief if they misuse their experience. True,
these people are often rich in experience, which is very valuable, but
it is very dangerous if they rest content with their own experience.
They must realize that their knowledge is mostly perceptual and
partial and that they lack rational and comprehensive knowledge;
in other words, they lack theory and their knowledge, too, is rela-
tively incomplete. Without comparatively complete knowledge it is
impossible to do revolutionary work well.
Thus, there are two kinds of incomplete knowledge, one is ready-
made knowledge found in books and the other is knowledge that
is mostly perceptual and partial; both are one-sided. Only an inte-
gration of the two can yield knowledge that is sound and relatively
complete.
In order to study theory, however, our cadres of working-class
and peasant origin must first acquire an elementary education. With-
out it they cannot learn Marxist-Leninist theory. Having acquired it,
they can study Marxism-Leninism at any time. In my childhood I
never attended a Marxist-Leninist school and was taught only such
things as, “The Master said: ‘How pleasant it is to learn and con-
4
stantly review what one has learned.’ ” Though this teaching material
was antiquated, it did me some good because from it I learned to
read. Nowadays we no longer study the Confucian classics but such
new subjects as modern Chinese, history, geography and elementary
natural science, which, once learned, are useful everywhere. The
Central Committee of our Party now emphatically requires that our
cadres of working-class and peasant origin should obtain an elemen-
tary education because they can then take up any branch of study —
politics, military science or economics. Otherwise, for all their rich
experience they will never be able to study theory.
It follows that to combat subjectivism we must enable people
of each of these two types to develop in whichever direction they
are deficient and to merge with the other type. Those with book-
learning must develop in the direction of practice; it is only in this