【Tetsuto-i "Thought" (7)】
A loyal defender and selfless devotee of Marxist philosophy
——Pan Zinian's Philosophical Thought Study
Author: Feng Yanli (Deputy Director and Researcher, Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
1. A Piece of Dan Heart: An unswerving believer in Marxism
From an auditor at Peking University to a Communist Party member. Pan Zinian was born in Shuxiang Mendi and studied the "Four Books and Five Classics" in his father's private school since childhood. Influenced by the Xinhai Revolution, Pan Zinian developed a strong desire for knowledge about new knowledge and new culture, and was eager to go out to study, so he went to the private Datong School in Shanghai and longmen normal school successively. However, as the eldest son, Pan Zinian sacrificed his future and returned to his hometown to teach after reading, taking care of the elderly while earning tuition for the second brother Pan Shu, so that the second brother had the opportunity to study. In 1920, under the influence of the May Fourth Movement, Pan Zinian worked as an auditor in the Department of Philosophy of Peking University for three years through part-time work and part-time study, mainly studying philosophy, logic and new literature, laying a solid theoretical foundation for the later revolutionary road and academic road, and also opening the prelude to his research on Marxist philosophy and logic. Three years later, Pan Zinian was introduced to teach at Yude Middle School in Baoding, Hebei Province, where his new literary lectures for his students were very popular, and the speeches were compiled into volumes and published, later "Introduction to Literature". In 1926, under the call of the Great Revolution, Pan Zinian decided to go from Beijing to Guangzhou to directly participate in the revolution, but due to inconvenient transportation and physical reasons, he regrettably failed to participate in the Northern Expedition as he wished. In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched the "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup, and he resolutely decided to join the Communist Party of China, starting his revolutionary career of lifelong loyalty to the party with the spirit of dedication to revolution.
Born on January 11, 1893 in Yixing County, Jiangsu Province, Pan Zinian was responsible for founding Xinhua Daily in 1938, and in 1955 became the first deputy director of the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (the predecessor of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) (presiding over the executive work of the Faculty), and the first director of the Institute of Philosophy, preparing to establish the academic magazine "Philosophical Research". Pan Zinian is a well-known Marxist philosopher and logician in modern China, a loyal soldier and outstanding pioneer of our party on the press and education fronts, and has spared no effort to promote the cause of philosophical research and made outstanding contributions.
The cover of Logic and Logic published by different publishers. Profile picture
From ordinary Communist Party members to tenacious communist fighters. After joining the party, according to the instructions of the party organization, Pan Zinian returned to his hometown of Yixing as the director of the county education bureau, secretly served as a member of the propaganda committee of the yixing county special branch of the CPC, and used his legal status to constantly run between Nanjing and Yixing, launched extensive ideological mobilization work, and made a lot of organizational preparations for Yixing. In September 1927, Pan Zinian returned to Shanghai to take charge of the editor-in-chief of progressive journals such as Beixin and Honghuang, and published a number of editorials, accumulating rich experience for running newspapers and periodicals in the future, and also strengthening his Marxist belief in the struggle. From 1929 to 1933, Pan Zinian changed his post several times under the instructions of the Party, and successively served as the founder of South China University, the head of the "Social Federation" (Social Science Alliance), the secretary of the "General League of Left-wing Culture", and the editor-in-chief of The Truth Daily. As a result of the traitor's betrayal, Pan Zinian and the literary scholar Ding Ling were arrested and imprisoned; during his imprisonment, he experienced a variety of severe tortures such as the agents' pepper water filling throats and electrocution to extract confessions, but he was still as calm as an "old monk who was admitted to the old monk", ignoring the rumors deliberately spread by the Kuomintang, and even wrote a poem "Yongxue" to encourage the prisoners to strengthen their ideals and beliefs: "One piece after another, flying up the rivers and mountains is not seen; the former disappears more fiercely, and finally changes the rivers and mountains completely." It was not until 1937 that Pan Zinian, who had been imprisoned for more than 4 years, was rescued from prison. During his four years in prison, despite his physical and mental devastation, he still maintained an active state of study, writing more than 300,000 words of "Contradictory Logic" (renamed "Logic and Logic" when it was published, and renamed "Logic and Logic" in 1938, and still using his original name), unswervingly adhering to Marxist beliefs in a difficult and difficult environment, and striving to explore Marxist materialistic dialectics. Pan Zinian, together with Aischi, Li Da and other early Marxist philosophers in China, made great contributions to the dissemination, popularization, innovation and development of Marxist philosophy.
From a communist fighter to an outstanding pioneer of the party on the press and education fronts. After Pan Zinian was released from prison, under the instructions of Comrade Zhou Enlai, he began to organize the "Xinhua Daily" with Zhang Hanfu, and was later appointed as the director of the Xinhua Daily with the approval of the Party Central Committee. Xinhua Daily was the only large-scale organ newspaper published publicly by the Communist Party of China in the Kuomintang-ruled areas throughout the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the early period of the War of Liberation. From the beginning of the preparation of the newspaper, he traveled to Nanjing, Wuhan, Chongqing and other places, constantly fighting the Kuomintang for publication and public speech: while leading the staff to retreat to Chongqing, he was attacked by Japanese aircraft, and he personally saw 25 of his companions die and suffered from the loss of his brother. During the more than nine years that Xinhua Ribao was published, he integrated Marxist philosophy with the reality of the Chinese revolution, wrote hundreds of editorials and short commentaries for Xinhua Ribao and The Masses weekly, publicized the CPC's political stand and program of struggle, extensively reported on the CPC's achievements in production and construction and the outstanding achievements of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army in the revolution, and profoundly exposed the Kuomintang's ugly acts of compromise, surrender, and rebellion. With pan Zinian's all-out promotion and efforts, Xinhua Ribao became a powerful public opinion propaganda position for uniting the broad masses of the people and expanding the united front, educating an entire generation during the war years. In December 1948, after the Xinhua Daily was discontinued for more than a year, Pan Zinian was sent to Henan to organize zhongyuan university, serving as president and party secretary. In May 1949, he was transferred to Wuhan and successively served as the director of the Culture and Education Department of the Wuhan Military Control Commission and the director of the Education Department of the Central South Military and Political Committee. Until 1954, Pan Zinian was transferred to the Chinese Academy of Sciences to be responsible for the preparation of the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Under his vigorous promotion, China's first philosophical theory journal "Philosophical Studies" was founded in March 1955, the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences and the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences were established in June and September of the same year, and Pan Zinian served as the deputy director of the Faculty and the first director of the Institute of Philosophy. In the more than ten years that he has been the director of the Institute of Philosophy, in addition to administrative work and leadership work, he has still devoted himself to the research and dissemination of Marxist philosophy, actively applied dialectical materialism and historical materialism to see problems, and written monographs such as "Let's Learn a Little Philosophy" and "The General Line of the Party's Socialist Construction is the Most Vivid Marxist Philosophy". In 1958, despite his advanced age, Pan Zinian, who was nearly ancient, went to Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Luoyang and other cities and counties to carry out rural surveys in the suburbs of Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Luoyang, and other cities and counties, which lasted for two months, combining theory and practice, and then flexibly applying Marxist philosophy to answer practical questions and correctly summing up the practical experience of China's revolution and construction.
2. Searching up and down: a researcher of Marxist philosophy who has the courage to open up
Pan Zinian was one of the earliest scholars in China to study Marxist philosophy, and contributed to the research, innovation and development of dialectical materialism and historical materialism. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Chinese scholars launched a vigorous academic controversy around the relationship between dialectics and formal logic, and in the debates of the 1930s, most researchers advocated that dialectical logic is a higher logic adapted to higher social forms, formal logic is inferior logic, and dialectical logic should replace formal logic. In the early years, Pan Zinian drafted a book with a large system and rich content in prison, "The Logic of Contradictions", and after his release from prison in 1937, he "wrote the outline of private intentions into a pamphlet and published it", named "Logic and Logic", which was intended to solve and answer the problem of the relationship between dialectics and formal logic, which was the most representative philosophical and logical work of his life. Pan Zinian emphasizes in this book: "Dialectical materialism is the philosophy of the modern working class, which is based on various practices that transform natural existence, especially social existence, and at the same time takes these practices as the destination, seeing the true face of thinking and transforming the world through action." He inherited and developed Marx's view that thinking is not only to explain the world, but also to transform the world, thus deeply elucidating the truth of dialectical materialism. In the previous part, "Methodology (Logic)", he comprehensively expounded the three basic laws of dialectics, namely, the law of unity of opposites, the law of mutual change of mass, the law of negation of negation, and several pairs of categories in dialectics, including essence and phenomenon, basis and condition, necessity and chance, law and causality, form and content, possibility and reality. He believes that formal logic should be "discarded", that is, instead of completely denying and replacing formal logic, it is necessary to pick out the beneficial points in formal logic and serve the subject of dialectical logic in the form of technology. This practice of "abandonment" is of great progressive significance. Soon after the publication of this book, it was sent to Comrade Mao Zedong, who praised it quite much, saying: "Comrade Pan Zinian sent him a volume of "Logic and Logic", which is quite fresh to see this day to ninety-three pages. This shows that although Pan Zinian demoted formal logic from "method" to "technology" and then used it, he still affirmed its value and status, and played a role in the history of modern logic, which Comrade Mao Zedong considered to be novel and unique. In the logic debate in the academic circles in the late 1950s, Comrade Mao Zedong repeatedly praised the academic circles for exploring the relationship between dialectics and formal logic, believing that there was no distinction between formal logic and dialectics.
In the process of exploring the relationship between dialectics and formal logic, Pan Zinian contributed new views and wisdom to the relationship between dialectics and formal logic. The book "Logic and Logic" laid a solid foundation for the scientific understanding of dialectics in the future, is an important academic achievement of the brave exploration of materialist dialectics by early Marxist philosophers, and has important value in the social and historical conditions at that time: first, this book is the result of his independent thinking and courage to open up, its expression is incisive and its views are novel; secondly, in the specific era background of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Soviet Union's thinking on dialectics and formal logic has a profound impact on China's academic circles, "How dialectics was introduced into China". How to resonate with the masses" is the task and mission of Marxist philosophers at that time, this book is another important work to promote the popularization of Marxism after Aischi's "Philosophy of the Masses" (1936), in which Pan Zinian comprehensively and systematically expounded dialectical thought, which is conducive to the broad masses of the people to more deeply understand dialectics and even use dialectics to solve practical problems; Finally, the discussion of dialectics and formal logic in this book is a useful exploration of Marxist philosophy. Among them, the unique views and profound arguments have influenced a number of scholars, making more and more people with lofty ideals move towards the road of Marxist philosophical research.
In addition, Pan Zinian also published "On the Same Problem of Epistemology and Dialectics" (1941), "The Dialectical Law of "From Quantitative Change to Qualitative Change" (1941), "The Relationship between Matter and Spirit" (1943), "The Direction of New Philosophical Research" (1951), "Negation of Negation - One of the Three Basic Laws of Dialectics" (1956), "A Little Experience of Chairman Mao's Two Types of Contradictions from the Marxist Theory of the State" (1958), "The Negation of Negation - One of the Three Basic Laws of Dialectics" (1956), "A Little Experience of Chairman Mao's Two Types of Contradictions from the Marxist Theory of the State" (1958), Let's learn a series of philosophical papers and lectures such as Philosophy (1958) and Dialectics is the Core of Philosophy (1959), expounding the basic contents of materialism and dialectics in a simple and simple way, and turning the pen in hand into a powerful weapon to defend the scientific nature of materialist dialectics. In The Direction of New Philosophical Research, he answers the important question of "what is philosophy?" He believes: "Philosophy is to sum up the common laws of the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the science of thinking, and to draw up the general laws, and these general laws are the principles of dialectical materialism. In the article "On the Dialectic of "From Quantitative Change to Qualitative Change"", he reviewed Engels's expression of quantitative change and combined it with China's reality, forcefully attacked the erroneous remark that "the 'quality law' is already an outdated 'mechanical theory'", and reiterated the relationship between quantitative change and qualitative change and the important guiding role of this dialectic in China's development and construction. After several waves of academic controversy, Pan Zinian has always adhered to the Marxist standpoint of using materialistic dialectics to analyze China's problems and solve China's difficult problems, used the weapon of Marxist philosophical theory to smash one by one erroneous ideological trends and inappropriate remarks intended to shake the foundation of our party, resolutely defended the Marxist theoretical position, and at the same time constantly demonstrated to the people of the world the unbreakable truth and enduring vitality of Marxist philosophy.
In terms of historical materialism, Pan Zinian adhered to the guidance of Marxist philosophy and in 1956 wrote an article entitled "How to Study the Economic Base and Superstructure of Our Country in the Transitional Period", saying: "Marxists regard everything as a process of development, and in a certain period and under certain conditions, it is still beneficial to the people, and what is still beneficial to the people, as well as its positive role, we must develop it, develop it within certain limits, and make its positive role fully played." Under the guidance of this thinking, he affirmed that our country should have its own economic base in the transitional period, and that the economic base of the transitional period includes socialist and non-socialist elements, and further believes that the different economic components in the economic base of the transitional period are not a mixture of mixtures, but a unified and complete collective organically organized according to the internal links of the whole social and economic life. In addition, he believes that the complex economic base will have a complex superstructure corresponding to it, and advocates clarifying the relationship between the economic base and the superstructure. In his 1958 essay "Magnificent Long-term Planning, Excellent Scientific Theory," Pan Zinian emphasized the two excellent styles of mass line and seeking truth from facts, and demanded that subjective initiative be brought into play on the basis of seeking truth from facts and the mass line should be implemented. Pan Zinian's unique views on the economic foundation and superstructure, his great attention to the mass line and seeking truth from facts, are the valuable wealth contributed by the older generation of Marxist philosophers to the study of historical materialism, which has promoted the sinicization of the Marxist materialist concept of history and provided important theoretical guidance for the practice of China's revolution and construction.
In the study of Marxist philosophy, Pan Zinian pays attention to the combination of theory and practice, and pays special attention to promoting the sinicization of Marxism and the popularization of the times. First, he published treatises that combined the basic tenets of Marxism with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution. Although Pan Zinian has been undertaking extremely heavy administrative work for many years, he still persisted in combining theory with practice and wrote a number of monographs and editorials, truly applied the basic principles of Marxism to the reality of China's revolution and construction, and constantly summed up China's practical experience in the struggle for national independence and people's liberation with Marxist standpoints and methods, which is a model for China's early application of Marxist philosophy to solve and answer Chinese problems. It has given full play to the important guiding role of Marxist philosophy in the practice of China's revolution and construction. Second, it is emphasized that the study of Marxist philosophy should be combined with the study of natural science. On the one hand, in his published monographs and papers, he attaches great importance to the combination of philosophical research and natural science research, for example, in "Logic and Logic", the exposition of materialistic dialectics is combined with the knowledge system of natural sciences such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc., and the general essence of Marxist philosophy and its laws are discussed by summarizing and improving the laws of natural science; on the other hand, Pan Zinian encourages the integration of philosophical research and natural science research in administrative work, and strongly supports and founds the "Natural Dialectics Research Newsletter" The magazine participated in the first national symposium on natural dialectics, and actively promoted the formation of an academic alliance between Marxist philosophical researchers and natural science researchers. Third, it advocates combining the study of Marxist philosophy with the investigation of specific social practices. When Pan Zinian was the director of the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, despite his advanced age, he still set strict demands on himself with high standards, paying attention to using Marxist philosophy to solve practical problems, but also paying attention to discovering problems from reality investigation and testing theoretical achievements from practice. In 1958, Pan Zinian led a group of people to carry out a two-month investigation and study to deepen the understanding of Marxist philosophy from the practical problems of China's socialist construction, test the viewpoints and methods of Marxist philosophy in practice, and share the academic achievements of combining theory with practice with cadres at all levels and the broad masses through papers and reports, emphasizing the practical nature of Marxist philosophy.
In the road of Marxist philosophical exploration, Pan Zinian's humble and humble attitude towards learning is also awe-inspiring. In his 1937 book Logic and Logic, Pan Zinian emphasized that "the author who dares to put forward his own opinion is just in the right direction" and "hopes to cause discussion and criticism from ordinary people in order to seek personal progress." When it was republished in 1961, he said that the book was written in a hurry, "at most it is only the result of daring to think and dare to say", "there are many childish and ridiculous points in it", and finally stressed that "comrades are invited to spur advice". This attitude of governance has always run through Pan Zinian's entire academic career, for example, in the article "The Direction of New Philosophical Research", he twice said: "I have not talked to my friends next to me, so it is a personal opinion." Pan Zinian's humble and respectful attitude towards learning shows the demeanor of a generation of philosophical masters.
3. Bow down to the best of your ability: a communicator of Marxist philosophy of selfless dedication
Pan Zinian was a well-deserved disseminator of Marxist philosophy, and he devoted his life to studying and disseminating Marxist philosophy. In the process of running newspapers and periodicals, he resolutely defended the Marxist theoretical position, actively propagated Marxist philosophy, always adhered to the integration of theory with practice, integrated the basic tenets of Marxism with the practice of the Chinese revolution, and personally promoted the sinicization of Marxism and the popularization of the times.
Pan Zi Nian realized the dissemination of Marxist philosophy through smooth communication channels. In terms of running newspapers and periodicals, he founded a series of periodicals throughout his life, such as Xinhua Ribao, The Masses Weekly, and Philosophical Studies; he was responsible for the work of editing the editors-in-chief of such periodicals as Beixin, Honghuang, and Zhenshu Bao; he actively created channels for the dissemination of Marxist philosophy for the broad masses of the people and opened up a Marxist theoretical position, thus correctly expounding the aims and objectives of the CPC's struggle, confronting ideological viewpoints that distort facts and agitate for reaction, and winning the support and support of the broad masses of the people for the cause of the CPC through paper media He united all the masses that could be united and was known as the "first reporter of the CPC." First, Pan Zinian clarified the principles of running a journal. The first is the principle of party spirit. He once proposed: "Party newspapers should strengthen the 'tempering of party spirit.'" As long as it is the newspaper and periodical that he handles, the principle of party spirit has always run through the entire process of running newspapers and periodicals, from the purpose and direction of running the entire newspaper and periodical, down to every content and every news published in the newspaper, all of which embody the party's stand and mission, and resolutely implement the party's line and principles. The second is to take unity with the people as our duty. In a statement published by Xinhua Ribao, it solemnly declared: "This newspaper is willing to turn itself into the common mouthpiece of all anti-Japanese individuals, cliques, and parties; this newspaper strives to become the common voice of the people of the whole country." This shows the determination and mission of the press under his leadership to unite the people. When he founded the journal "Philosophical Studies", on the one hand, he united experts with real talents and practical learning to form the editorial board of the journal and held regular meetings; on the other hand, he attached great importance to the suggestions of various disciplines, held many meetings to solicit opinions, and vividly embodied his determination and mission of uniting the people as his duty in running newspapers and periodicals. Second, Pan Zi Nian innovated the management method of newspapers and periodicals. In the "Xinhua Daily" magazine, the slogan of "well compiled, produced early, and sold more" was put forward, and the technical process was carefully improved in paper management, and the quality of paper was improved, so that the publication sold more, thus improving the breadth of the spread of newspapers and periodicals. All in all, during his period of running newspapers and periodicals, Pan Zinian always resolutely implemented the principles and policies of the party Central Committee, made newspapers and periodicals an important position for propagating the party's ideological line, resolutely defended the right to speak of the Communist Party of China, effectively guided the direction of public opinion during the war period, united the broad masses of the people, consolidated the united front of the united front with the outside world, and opened up an important public opinion front for the propaganda of Marxist philosophy.
In terms of education and teaching, Pan Zinian has successively served as the director of the county education bureau, the president of Zhongyuan University, the director of the education department of the Central South Military and Political Committee, and the director of the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Pan Zinian never regards himself as an expert in academic exchanges and communication, never imposes his views on others, and always humbly asks others for advice. Every time he writes an article, he must seek opinions from many experts and scholars, attach great importance to and humbly accept everyone's criticism and suggestions. In practical work, he often took the initiative to ask experts and scholars for advice, so that the propaganda work of Marxist philosophy was valued and recognized by more and more experts and scholars. Pan Zi Nian is also committed to cultivating new talents. After serving as the director of the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he conscientiously implemented the principles and policies of a hundred flowers blooming and a hundred schools of thought contending, actively cultivated the vanguard force for disseminating Marxist philosophy, often organized and presided over various academic seminars, and supported the Marxist philosophy research team to carry out foreign exchanges. At the same time, we should widely publicize Marxist philosophy, attach importance to supporting the mass philosophical research team, and encourage the masses to join the marxist philosophy research team. It is precisely because Pan Zinian treats others humbly, unites the masses, and is committed to cultivating new people to become an excellent representative of a generation of Marxist philosophy researchers, that more and more scholars, especially young scholars, attach importance to the study of Marxist philosophy under his influence, and profoundly realize the importance and urgency of learning and understanding Marxist philosophy, and the team of Marxist philosophy research is constantly growing.
Pan Zinian showed different emphases on the content of the dissemination of Marxist philosophy according to different administrative positions. When he was the director of the newspaper, he focused on proceeding from the effectiveness of propaganda, emphasizing the application of Marxist philosophy to the specific Chinese revolution, or combining theory and practice to attack inappropriate remarks that distort the Communist Party of China and Marxist philosophy, or popularizing Marxist philosophy and publicizing the ruling program and purpose of the Communist Party of China to the masses in an easy-to-understand form. He focused on proceeding from the profundity of education, broadened his horizons to the height of improving the level of national philosophical research, and put more emphasis on deepening the study of Marxist philosophy from both theoretical and practical levels. In the actual struggle for China's revolution and construction, Pan Zinian never left the practice of disseminating Marxist philosophy for a single day.
Looking back on Pan Zinian's life, he was extremely loyal to the party and the country, and the title of "Communist Party Member" was his supreme glory and responsibility heavier than Mount Tai. With his unswerving dedication and selfless dedication, he interpreted the feelings and responsibilities of a Marxist philosopher. His comrade-in-arms Shi Ximin said in his 1982 article "Scholars and Soldiers - Remembering Comrade Pan Zi nian": "At the beginning of 1966, when I visited his home, he said to me so earnestly that he was afraid that because he was old and sluggish and could not adapt to the development of the situation, he would violate the title of Communist Party member. "In the new era, Chinese philosophy and social science research is booming and developing, and Marxist philosophy research has made great achievements, while striving to build a Discipline System, Academic System, and Discourse System of Marxist Philosophy with Chinese Characteristics, we should always remember such a Marxist philosopher who has opened up mountains and roads for future generations all his life, always maintain his original intention, and live up to Shaohua!"
Guangming Daily (2021-03-15, 15th edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily