History is the best teacher. The history of the Communist Party of China is a rich and vivid textbook, and in-depth study of the party's history is of great significance to us in doing a good job in practical work and better moving toward the future.
How can the vast number of party members and cadres study and make good use of the party's century-old history? Comrade Mao Zedong set a very good example for us. On March 30, 1942, Comrade Mao Zedong delivered a speech entitled "How to Study the History of the Communist Party of China" at the meeting of the Central Study Group, which not only emphasized the importance of studying and studying party history, but also gave the main methods for studying and studying party history. More than 70 years later, this important document in the study of party history still guides the direction for the study and study of party history. Learn together.
Source | People's Forum magazine and People's Forum Network (rmltwz)
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It is necessary to achieve a comprehensive system, adhere to the system concept and overall thinking, and scientifically and comprehensively study and grasp the entire history of the party as a whole
Comrade Mao Zedong particularly stressed the need to be comprehensive and systematic: "Now let's consider the road and experience we have taken in the past, and we must consider it systematically. ...... We are the object of our study with the whole process of the party's development, and we conduct objective research, not only one step, but the whole; not the individual details, but the line and policy. It is to remind the comrades of the whole party that we must adhere to the systematic concept and overall thinking, comprehensively and systematically study the entire history of our party, pay attention to emphasizing the integrity, systematicness, comprehensiveness, and coordination, oppose the partial, narrow, one-sided, and isolated view and handling of problems, not only study the entire development process of the party, but also study the party's line and policies, study major achievements in the political, military, economic, cultural, social, and ecological civilization fields, and scientifically view the party's achievements, mistakes, and mistakes as a whole To scientifically and comprehensively study and grasp the entire history of the Party as a whole. It is necessary to study not only the history of our Party, but also the whole history of the Chinese revolution and even the whole of China, as well as the history of our friends and allies, as well as the history of our enemies.
Science and comprehensiveness are closely linked, and only by truly comprehensively and systematically studying and looking at the entire history of our party can we truly be objective and scientific. This is true not only for the history of the entire party, but also for major events, important meetings, important figures, important ideas, and so on in the history of the party, and it must be studied and viewed comprehensively and systematically, so that we can truly understand the essence of the historical event and its objective reasons, and can we make an objective and fair evaluation. To achieve this, we must comprehensively and systematically study and look at the entire history of our party, truly see clearly the essence and harm of dogmatism, subjectivism, and empiricism, so as to fairly and impartially evaluate the entire history of the party and major events, important meetings, important figures, and important ideas, and further strengthen our historical, political, and value self-confidence.
By deeply studying the party's century-old history, we have more profoundly realized that the party's history is a whole, that the hard work and struggle in the previous period is the foundation for the development and growth of the later period, and that generations of Chinese communists have made today's great achievements by relaying their struggles; only by persisting in scientifically grasping the party's great struggle and glorious course as a whole, persisting in grasping the continuity of the party's great struggle and glorious course as a whole, persisting in grasping the continuity of several major historical periods in the hundred years since the founding of the party as a whole, Only by being consistent can we study, study, and sum up the party's history well. How to correctly view the two historical periods before and after the reform and opening up is a very representative issue, and General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly proposed to look at it comprehensively and objectively, and it is necessary to look at this issue from a political height. He particularly alerted the comrades of the whole party to profoundly understand: "Correctly handling the relationship between socialist practice and exploration before and after reform and opening up is not only a historical issue, but more importantly a political issue." That is to say, we must look at the two historical periods before and after reform and opening up as a whole, comprehensively and systematically and develop the continuity and consistency of the struggles and achievements of these two historical periods, and must not belittle, smear or even negate another historical period in order to elevate one historical period, nor can we demean or negate other historical figures in order to elevate and beautify a historical figure.
It is necessary to achieve historical dialectics, adhere to the stand, viewpoint, and method of historical materialism and dialectical materialism, and seek truth from facts to understand and evaluate the history of the party
The materialist view of history is the fundamental way for us Communists to understand and grasp history, and seeking truth from facts is an important ideological line of our party. In the study of party history, we must persist in seeking truth from facts and adhere to the standpoints, viewpoints, and methods of historical materialism and dialectical materialism in order to draw scientific conclusions, so as to scientifically grasp the law and general trend of historical development and always grasp the historical initiative in the development of the cause of the party and the state. In particular, how to view and judge the major events, important periods, important meetings, important figures, and important ideas in the history of the Party must be even more so, otherwise there will be injustice or even the mistake of historical nihilism.
Throughout his life, Comrade Mao Zedong insisted on a historical dialectical view of problems, especially with regard to the history of the Party. In this important document, he proposed that the method of studying party history is "ancient and modern Chinese and foreign laws", and further explained: "That is, to find out a certain time and space in which the problems under study occur, and to study the problems as a historical process under certain historical conditions." The so-called 'ancient and modern' is the development of history..." What is very important is that the whole party must have historical thinking, adhere to the method of historicism, and adhere to the correct view of party history and history. For example, in response to how to view Chen Duxiu, he not only objectively evaluated the period of the Great Revolution when Chen Duxiu was the supreme leader of the party, but also pointed out in particular: "Chen Duxiu was the commander-in-chief of the May Fourth Movement. Now is not the time for us to propagate Chen Duxiu's history, and in the future, when we revise Chinese history, we must talk about his merits. At the same time, Comrade Mao Zedong not only demanded that the comrades of the whole Party should look at the history of our Party in a historical dialectical way, but also at other histories related to the history of our Party and even the history of the entire Chinese nation, of which his evaluation of the Xinhai Revolution and the May Fourth Movement was very representative. He pointed out: "When we write history, we often say that the Xinhai Revolution was a failure, but in fact we cannot say that it was completely defeated, the Xinhai Revolution had its victory, and it overthrew the Qing Emperor who directly relied on imperialism. The May Fourth Movement was a united front of the national bourgeoisie and the proletariat, with a spontaneous character. But this spontaneity is different from the previous one, and it is somewhat awakened, and many people are in favor of the October Revolution, in favor of Lenin's revolution. ...... The May Fourth Movement developed into the founding of the Communist Party, and the workers' movement moved forward, which led to the later cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. It is to remind the comrades of the whole party that only by looking at the victory and defeat of the Xinhai Revolution in a dialectical way and objectively and fairly evaluating the victories and defeats of the Xinhai Revolution, the greatness and inadequacies of the May Fourth Movement, and profoundly realizing the tremendous progress of the May Fourth Movement compared with the Xinhai Revolution, can the Party's historical study be well studied.
Since the beginning of reform and opening up, the problem of historical nihilism in historical research, especially in the study of party history, has continued to emerge, attacking, slandering, smearing, and even negating the party's leaders, revolutionary heroes, and party history time and again, and has caused a bad impact. In this regard, Comrade Deng Xiaoping particularly stressed in the process of presiding over the drafting of the "Resolution on Several Historical Issues Concerning the Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China": "The banner of Mao Zedong Thought cannot be lost. To lose this banner is in fact to negate the glorious history of our Party. General Secretary Xi Jinping not only pointed out the great harm and essence of historical nihilism many times, but also emphasized in his speech at the mobilization meeting for the study and education of party history: "If the concept of history is wrong, not only will it fail to achieve the purpose of study and education, but it will go in the opposite direction and go into a misunderstanding." "It is necessary to take a clear-cut stand against historical nihilism, strengthen ideological guidance and theoretical analysis, clarify the vague understanding and one-sided understanding of some major historical issues in party history, and better get to the bottom of the source and consolidate the foundation." It is to remind us to profoundly understand that the fundamental purpose of historical nihilism is to overthrow the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system, and when we study and study party history, we must accurately grasp the main theme and mainstream essence of the party's historical development, take a clear-cut stand against historical nihilism, and correctly understand and scientifically evaluate major events, important periods, important meetings, important figures, and important ideas in party history, so that we can scientifically understand and correctly evaluate the party's history in a truth-seeking manner, and draw wisdom and strength from party history. Help us make the right decisions and set the right courses, guidelines, and policies.
It is necessary to achieve the integration of China and foreign countries, persist in taking China as the mainstay and China as the mainstay, and connect China with foreign countries, and between oneself and the other side to study and study the history of the Party
The history of the founding, development, and growth of our Party is not only closely linked to the history of the Chinese revolution and even to the history of china as a whole, but also to the history of the international communist movement and even the history of the whole world; if we do not understand the history of the international communist movement and the history of the world, and do not know the relationship between the Chinese revolution and the world revolution, the relationship between the Communist Party of China and the international communist movement, we will not be able to truly correctly understand the history of the Party, and naturally we will not be able to study and study the history of the Party well. Comrade Mao Zedong has a very profound understanding of this, and the "Chinese and foreign countries" in his "ancient and modern Chinese and foreign laws" include China and foreign countries: "The so-called 'Chinese and foreign' means China and foreign countries, that is, one's own side and the other side. When we talk about China's anti-imperialist struggle, we must talk about how foreign capitalism and imperialism have viciously invaded China. When we speak of the Chinese proletariat, we must speak of the world proletariat, of the struggle of the Communist Party, the party of the Chinese proletariat, and of how They lead the international proletariat in their struggle against capitalism and imperialism. This is called 'Chinese and foreign law'. China is 'middle' and foreign countries are 'foreign'. ...... If you don't make the 'outside' clear, it will not be easy to figure out the 'middle'. A careful study of the history of the Party shows that although the Communist International and the Soviet Union also had erroneous guidance and even gross interference in our Party, their correct guidance and assistance were still the main ones, and the credit was the main one. Therefore, Comrade Mao Zedong clearly pointed out: "The Communist Party of China was organized under the call of Lenin, sent by the Communist International to help organize it, and attended by international delegates at the First Congress of the Communist Party of China." This enlightens us that in studying the history of the Party, we must have a world vision and an international perspective, truly achieve the integration of China and foreign countries, attach importance to the study of the history of the international communist movement and world history, not only to see the essence of foreign capitalism and imperialism, but also to attach importance to the help and contribution of the world proletariat to the Chinese revolution, but also to understand the contribution of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese revolution to the world, and to view the contribution, value, and significance of the struggle of the Communist Party of China from the broad perspective of world history.
To achieve the integration of China and foreign countries, it is more important to do our own things well, and strive to make more and greater contributions to the world revolution and the liberation of mankind. This requires us to persist in taking ourselves as the mainstay and China as the mainstay, to study and study the history of the Party through China and foreign countries, our own side and the other side, to better develop and strengthen ourselves, and we must never be arrogant and self-effacing, still less can we completely westernize and exalt foreign countries. In this regard, Comrade Mao Zedong particularly emphasized in this important document: "In studying the history of the Communist Party of China, we should take China as the center and sit on China' body. ...... When we study China, we must take China as the center, and we must sit on China's body and study the world's things. Some of our comrades have a problem, that is, everything is centered on foreign countries, as a phonograph, and mechanically moves foreign things to China without studying China's characteristics. If we do not study China's characteristics and move foreign things, we will not be able to solve China's problems. It not only emphasized the importance of taking China as the center, but also explained how to deal with the relationship between China and the world, and especially reminded the comrades of the whole party to resolutely oppose the foreign eight shares in the study of party history, and must not eat the foreign and completely westernize, but must truly achieve the use of the foreign for the Chinese.
To truly achieve the integration of China and foreign countries, we must not only penetrate China and foreign countries, but also penetrate "Chinese and foreign" in a broader sense, and we must thoroughly study the advanced and revolutionary opposites and the opposites of our party, so as to promote our deepening of the study of party history, so that the study of party history can we truly develop and grow ourselves. Therefore, Comrade Mao Zedong further interpreted "China and foreign": "The Xinhai Revolution was 'Zhong', the Qing Dynasty government was 'Outside'; the May Fourth Movement was 'Zhong', Duan Qirui and Cao Rulin were 'Outside'; the Northern Expedition was 'Zhong', and the Beiyang Warlords were 'Wai'; During the Civil War, the Communist Party was 'Zhong' and the Kuomintang was 'Wai'. At the same time, it is also proposed that in the future, it is necessary to compile two kinds of materials to systematically study the history of the Communist Party, including the international communist movement within the Party, and imperialism, landlords, and bourgeoisie outside the Party.
It is necessary to combine history and theory, persist in deeply integrating the important achievements of the sinification of Marxism with the development of the party, and promote the study of party history by improving the theoretical level
The history of the Party shows that Marxism has guided the founding, development, and growth of the Communist Party of China, and the Communist Party of China has also developed and innovated Marxism, and the sinification of Marxism is the best intermediary for the realization of this positive interaction. Comrade Mao Zedong, on the other hand, is a great pioneer and vigorous advocate of the sinification of Marxism, as well as an outstanding contributor and a great thinker to the sinification of Marxism; Mao Zedong Thought is not only a great theoretical achievement of the first historical leap in the sinification of Marxism, but also the soul of our eternal party, army, and country. Comrade Mao Zedong has always paid attention to the integration of history and theory, and insisted on deeply integrating the important achievements of the sinification of Marxism with the development of the party to enhance the theoretical level and enhance the driving force for development. Only general theories, which are not used in China's reality, cannot defeat the enemy. However, if we apply theory to reality, use the Marxist stand and method to solve the Chinese problem, and create something new, we will be able to use it. It is to emphasize the need to vigorously promote the sinification of Marxism, to resolutely oppose dogmatism, and to use Sinicized Marxism to guide the Chinese revolution from victory to new victory.
Comrade Mao Zedong has been waging a resolute struggle against dogmatism since he joined the revolution, but it has not been easy to make the promotion of the sinification of Marxism into our party's ideological consciousness and action consciousness, and it can even be said that it is very difficult, and it is only in the face of the lessons learned in blood that more and more people have awakened. At the beginning of the founding of the party, "taking Russia as a teacher" was our party's conscious choice, but what followed was the prevalence of dogmatism, Chen Duxiu, Li Lisan, Wang Ming... Dogmatism prevailed several times in the party. Although Comrade Mao Zedong wrote the article "Investigation Work" in May 1930, which was later changed to "Opposing Originalism", which clearly opposed the dogmatic ideas in the Red Army at that time, it still failed to completely stop the spread of dogmatism. After the Zunyi Conference established Comrade Mao Zedong's leading position in the Party Central Committee and the Red Army, dogmatism still had a considerable market in the Party, and how to eliminate the poison of dogmatism became an important issue that must be faced and answered well in summing up and studying the history of the Party. Therefore, when leading and organizing the editing and publication of important documents within the Party, such as "Before the Six Congresses," "Since the Sixth National Congress—Secret Documents within the Party," and "Two Lines," Comrade Mao Zedong particularly stressed the need to resolutely oppose dogmatism, subjectivism, and sectarianism. Comrade Mao Zedong particularly emphasized: "Now that we oppose subjectivism, sectarianism, and the eight strands of the Party, we should also pay attention to whether there are any such things in history when studying history. Only by clarifying these problems can we learn a scientific method. This scientific method is not subjectivism, not sectarianism, nor is it the eight strands of the Party. It not only warns the comrades of the whole party not to make such mistakes in the study of party history, but also reminds the whole party to resolutely oppose dogmatism at all times, to resolutely oppose subjectivism, sectarianism, the eight units of the party, and so on. Combined with Comrade Mao Zedong's previous important documents such as "Transforming Our Study" and "Eight Shares of the Opposition Party", we can more deeply understand the urgency and importance of his resolute opposition to dogmatism, subjectivism and sectarianism, so as to consciously promote the study of party history by improving the theoretical level.
The key lies in truly integrating history with theory and conscientiously studying and applying well the theoretical achievements of the sinification of Marxism, which requires us not only to study and study the party's history, but also to conscientiously study and implement well the party's theoretical innovation achievements, and to continue to promote the benign interaction between theoretical innovation and practical innovation. It is necessary not only to understand what kind of theories and ideas are contained in it, but also to understand in light of the history of the Party, the history of the Chinese revolution, the history of China, and even the history of the world revolution, and the history of the world, why the leaders wrote this work, what kind of writing process they went through, when and where they first published it, what kind of impact it had on the party building and the Chinese revolution and the world revolution at that time after publication, what kind of revisions they have undergone later, and what important significance of the times they have today. Learn to use each other.
Selected from | People's Forum magazine in December
Original title | Study the Methodology of Studying the History of the Communist Party of China - Re-reading the enlightenment of Comrade Mao Zedong's "How to Study the History of the Communist Party"
Author | Zhu Jidong, executive deputy director and secretary general of the National Research Center for Cultural Security and Ideological Construction of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, director of the Mao Zedong Thought Research Office of the Marxist Research Institute, chief researcher of the Innovation Project, and professor of the School of Marxism of the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
New Media Editor | Wang Sinan
The original article is responsible for editing | Han Tuo