Chapter Ten builds upon the discussion of political parties in Chapter 9. 1993 – 2016: (9) : Political Party Divisions Are Based on Class Divisions : Chapter Nine of “The Logic of Politics” 王沪宁等著《政治的逻辑》
Chapter 10 summary:
Lenin’s 1920 dictum —“politics is a science and an art”—is the guiding thesis of this chapter. As a social phenomenon, politics is constrained by material production and objective laws, and therefore can be studied and grasped through scientific methods.
Yet different strokes are needed to address the specific problems of different societies. Deep analysis, experience, openness and judgement are needed not to go too far in one direction or the other. Politics must not go too far right, not too far left, not too centralized, not too ‘democratic’, not too commanding but not abdicating leadership either and always staying in intimate contact with the people.
Politics is intensely practical, situation-dependent, and extremely complex so political science can provide only general laws and principles. In real political work one must still “analyze concrete problems concretely,” and devise strategy and tactics in accordance with time, place, and circumstances—hence politics is also an “art.”
Chapter Ten provides five interrelated lines of institutional, methodological, and strategic arguments.
First, it emphasizes that “politics, compared with economics, takes first place,” with the proposition that “politics is the concentrated expression of economics” as a pivotal point. Politics has the commanding and integrative role in economic life, yet politics does not vulgarly determine economics or vice versa; after the proletariat takes power comes the period of socialist construction, economic development requires political guarantees, while political mistakes can in turn damage economic development.
Second, it presents democratic centralism as the fundamental organizational principle of the proletarian party and the socialist state. Both centralism and democracy are essential components of democratic centralism. Democratic centralism rejects both bureaucratic centralism and anarchism, and advances a higher and more substantive socialist democracy that addresses democracy in both the economic and the political spheres through institutional construction.
Third, the mass line as the basic method of leadership, insisting that it is the people who make history and that policy must “take the standpoint of the tens of millions.” Decision-making and implementation is a cyclical process of policymaking and revision after getting feedback from the masses on how policy works out in actual practice. The Party must guard against the twin typical faults of leadership — getting too far in front and divorced from the masses in commandism and abdicating its leading role by merely following the crowd in tailism.
Fourth, a scientifically defined division of functions and the separation of Party and government in order to improve—and genuinely strengthen—Party leadership. The Party focuses on line, principles, policy, and political leadership and avoids getting bogged down in the details of implementation. State organs act independently and responsibly within their statutory competence, thereby raising efficiency, overcoming bureaucratism, and enabling the Party to concentrate on ideological-political work and Party building.
Fifth, policy and strategy are the “lifeblood” of the Party and government. Both firmness in strategic principles and flexibility in tactical execution are essential. Unify principled steadfastness with situational adaptability. This is what most clearly embodies politics as both “science” and “art.”
The Logic of Politics: Principles of Marxist Political Science translated in full with citations to sources and context to sources added:
- 1993-2016: Party Ideologue Wang Huning Led Book on Chinese Communist Orthodoxy
- 1993 – 2016: Party Ideologue Wang Huning on Marxist Political Science Chapter One
- 1993-2016: “The Logic of Politics” Ch. 2 — Wang Huning on Historical Materialism and Lenin’s “Politics is the Concentrated Expression of Economics”
- 2020: PRC Developments of Marxism — Yu Bin: On the Philosophy of “Contradiction”
- 1993-2016: “Politics is Class Struggle” — The Logic of Politics Ch. 3
- 1993 – 2016: “The State is an Instrument of Class Rule” — Chapter 4 of the “Logic of Politics”
- 1993 – 2016: “The State as Governing Institution Set Apart from Society” Chapter Five of “The Logic of Politics” 王沪宁等著《政治的逻辑》
- 1993 – 2016:(6) “Political Power Is the Power of Class Domination” Chapter Six of “The Logic of Politics” 王沪宁等著《政治的逻辑》
- 1993 – 2016: (7) “The Nature of the State Determines Its Political Form” : Chapter Seven of “The Logic of Politics” 王沪宁等著《政治的逻辑》
- 1993 – 2016: (8) : “Political Democracy Is Class Rule” : Chapter Eight of “The Logic of Politics” 王沪宁等著《政治的逻辑》
- 1993 – 2016: (9) : Political Party Divisions Are Based on Class Divisions : Chapter Nine of “The Logic of Politics” 王沪宁等著《政治的逻辑》
- 1993 – 2016: (10) : Politics as a Science and an Art Chapter Ten of “The Logic of Politics” 王沪宁等著《政治的逻辑》
- 1993 – 2016: (11) : The National Question Is Part of the Overall Question of Social Revolution Chapter Eleven of “The Logic of Politics” 王沪宁等著《政治的逻辑》
- 1993 – 2016: (12) : “Social Existence Determines Social and Political Consciousness” Chapter Twelve of “The Logic of Politics” 王沪宁等著《政治的逻辑》
- 1993 – 2016: (13) : “Social Development Promotes Political Development” Chapter Thirteen of “The Logic of Politics” 王沪宁等著《政治的逻辑》
- 1993 – 2016: (14) : “Revolution Is the Locomotive of History” Chapter Fourteen of “The Logic of Politics” 王沪宁等著《政治的逻辑》
- 1993 – 2016: (15) : “The Characteristics of the Era Determine the International Politics of the Day” Chapter Fifteen of “The Logic of Politics” 王沪宁等著《政治的逻辑》
- 1993 – 2016: (16) : “Humanity’s Transition to Communism is Inevitable”, Chapter Sixteen of “The Logic of Politics” 王沪宁等著《政治的逻辑》
Chinese text of Chapter Ten follows the English translation.
In 1920, in his book “Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder“, Lenin advanced an important principle of Marxist political science: “politics is both a science and an art.” Marxism holds that politics is a social phenomenon; its emergence and development are not accidental, arbitrary, or blind. The nature of politics in a particular society is constrained by that society’s material production. That is, to put it into other words, it is governed by definite objective laws. People can apply scientific methods to study and master politics and identify its underlying principles or regularities; in this sense, politics is a science.
But politics also has a strong practical character. Real political life is extraordinarily intricate and complex. Political science can provide only the general laws and basic principles of political activity; yet amid the endlessly changing realities of politics, one must analyze concrete problems concretely and solve political issues with flexibility and responsiveness. One must formulate strategy and tactics in light of the “characteristics of the times” and actual conditions. In this sense, politics is also an art. To say that politics is both a science and an art means that, on the basis of the objective laws of social movement, one can:
- Understand the position and role of politics in social and economic life,
- Grasp the basic principles and methods of political action, and
- Identify the fundamental policies and tactical means for handling political questions,
In this way the political objectives of the proletariat can be achieved.
Section One Politics takes precedence over economics
I. Politics provides overall leadership and represents the big picture
Materialist dialectics is Marxism’s fundamental method for understanding things as well as the starting point for studying political science and the art of politics. From the standpoint of dialectical materialism, politics belongs to the category of the superstructure that is built upon the economic base. Politics is grounded in the economy; yet because it stands above the economic base, it has the function of taking control of the commanding height and grasping the overall situation. As Lenin pointed out:
“Politics is the concentrated expression of economics … politics cannot but take precedence over economics.”
V. I. Lenin, Once Again On The Trade Unions, The Current Situation and the Mistakes of Trotsky and Buhkarin
Marxism at the very least explains the primacy of politics in social and economic life in the following respects:
First, politics provides overall leadership. In the course of leading the Soviet socialist revolution and socialist construction, Lenin greatly enriched and developed Marxist political theory and was the first to set forth the special importance of politics. In a series of works such as Our Programme and What Is To Be Done?, Lenin emphasized the major significance of political struggle as compared with economic struggle. In particular, in his polemics with Trotsky and Bukharin, he explicitly advanced the famous thesis that “Politics must take precedence over economics,” and he sternly pointed out: “To argue otherwise is to forget the ABCs of Marxism.”
In China’s own semi-feudal, semi-colonial historical environment, Mao Zedong, on the basis of the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism and in combination with China’s realities, further elaborated the importance of politics—for example, in 1929, in On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party, he explained the relationship between politics and the military; in 1937, in On Contradiction, he discussed the relationship between politics and the economy; and in 1940, in On Protracted War, he analyzed the relationship between politics and war.
Especially during the period of socialist construction, Mao developed his thinking from the period of revolutionary war and pointed out the leading role of politics over all other work. In his “Sixty Points on Working Methods (Draft)” of 1958, he stressed that in the relationships between politics and professional work, politics and the military, politics and the economy, and politics and technology, politics is always the head; politics always leads the military, leads the economy, leads professional work, and leads technology. The leading role of politics emphasized by Mao is concentrated in the Party’s political leadership. This must be realized through the correct line, principles, and policies formulated by the Party; hence he often said that
“The Party’s policies are the Party’s life.” [“Policy and tactics are the life of the Party; leading comrades at all levels must give them full attention and must never on any account be negligent.]
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, A CIRCULAR ON THE SITUATION, March 20, 1948
Second, politics is the soul. In the Marxist view, ideas govern action and theory guides practice; and any given set of ideas and theories represents the political standpoint of a particular class. If the proletariat lacks a correct political standpoint, it is like a person who does not think or has no soul. In this sense, politics is equivalent to the soul, and only for that reason can it command and coordinate all other work. Lenin put it succinctly:
“Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement.”
“Only a party that is guided by advanced theory can fulfil the role of an advanced fighter.”
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, BURNING QUESTIONS of our MOVEMENT, I Dogmatism And “Freedom of Criticism”, A. What Does “Freedom of Criticism” Mean?
Engels had long before observed:
“Revolution is the highest act of politics; whoever wants revolution must also recognize the means for preparing revolution and educating the workers to carry it out—that is, must recognize political action.”
International Workingmen’s Association 1871, Apropos Of Working-Class Political Action, Reporter’s record of the speech made at the London Conference of the
International Working Men’s Association, September 21, 1871
Mao Zedong linked politics even more closely with ideological stance. In his “Editor’s Notes to The Socialist Upsurge in China’s Countryside,” he proposed that “political work is the very life of all economic work.” In “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People,” Mao further stated explicitly: “Not to have a correct political point stance is like having no soul.”
Third, politics is about the overall situation. Politics provides overall leadership and serves as the “soul,” running through everything. Thus it is not a merely partial matter; it involves the whole and the overall picture. Conversely, anything that bears on the whole and the overall picture necessarily also has a political character.
On the basis of the practical realities of Soviet socialist construction, Lenin was the first to advance a new concept, “politics in the economic sphere.” Lenin said:
“Now our main policy must be: to engage in the economic construction of the state, to harvest more grain, to supply more coal, to solve more properly the problem of making use of this grain and coal, to eliminate famine—this is our policy.”
V. I. Lenin, Speech Delivered At An All-Russia Conference Of Political Education Workers Of Gubernia and Uyezd Education Departments, November 3, 1920
Here Lenin tightly links the comprehensive shift in the focus of work with politics: while the proletariat is seizing state power, class struggle is the primary content of politics. However, when arrives the period of socialist construction, developing the economy becomes the main content of politics. Therefore Lenin also pointed out:
“Henceforth, less politics will be the best politics.”
V. I. Lenin, Eighth All-Russia Congress of Soviets, Part II Report On The Work Of The Council Of People’s Commissars December 22, 1920
The meanings of these two instances of “politics” are clearly different: the former refers to “politics in the economic sphere,” while the latter refers to the politics of the class struggle previously carried on. Thus, under different temporal and spatial conditions, politics has different content; politics is always concerned with those matters that are the most central and momentous.
Deng Xiaoping developed Marxism-Leninism still further. He explained that the shift in focus has important consequences:
“At the present time, socialist modernization is of supreme political importance for us, because it represents the most fundamental interest of our people,” but also explicitly defined politics as “the overall situation in the domestic and international class struggle and the fundamental interests of the Chinese people and the people of the world in current struggles.”
Deng Xiaoping, Uphold the Four Cardinal Principles, 1979
In short, whether it is the economy, culture, or education, so long as it involves the “overall situation,” it is politics.
II. Politics and the economy are forces that interact with each other
Politics provides overall direction and as the “soul” is about the overall situation. All of this shows why politics takes center stage in social and economic life. To understand the primacy of politics in depth, we need to clarify the relationship between politics and the economy.
Marx and Engels, because they needed to establish their materialist conception of history, they initially stressed politics primarily from an economic perspective. In 1845–1846, in The German Ideology, Marx and Engels wrote:
“Thus, the fact is as follows: definite individuals who carry on production in a definite way enter into definite social relations and political relations. Empirical observation must in each case reveal, on the basis of experience, the connection between the social structure and the political structure and production, without any mystical or speculative coloring.”
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, A Critique of The German Ideology
Here, the founders of Marxism for the first time linked politics with a specific mode of production. Thereafter, in works such as The Communist Manifesto, the “Preface” to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, and Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, they repeatedly pointed out that the ultimate causes of all political transformations should be sought in changes in the mode of production and the mode of exchange. Thus it depended upon the specific kind of economy during a given historical period. In this way Marx and Engels established a materialist view of the relationship between politics and the economy. Politics is a superstructure that arises from the economic base; the nature of politics is explained by the nature of the economy; and political change is, in the final analysis, determined by the economic base.
The reason Marx and Engels, at that time, kept politics so closely tied to the economy lay in historical and social circumstances. The Idealist thinkers who preceded them had inverted root and branch. They discussed politics as something that had nothing to do with the economic base. For example, Hegel and others regarded history as the embodiment of the “Absolute Idea.” Therefore, Marx and Engels needed, from the standpoint of historical materialism, to reduce politics to its fundamentals. In this way they clarified why capitalism must eventually fail and socialism win in the end by revealing the laws of economic motion. In doing so they gave the proletariat hope in their struggle to fulfill their historic mission. This was scientific theory that met the needs of society at that time.
Marx and Engels’s scientific viewpoint was, however, from the very beginning, subjected to distortion and attack by the enemies of Marxism. For example, Paul Barth in his book Hegel and the Philosophy of History of the Hegelian School, including Marx and Hartmann,
[Translator’s Note: original title, available online via the University of Wisconsin, Die Geschichtsphilosophie Hegel’s und der Hegelianer, bis auf Marx und Hartmann published in 1890. ChatGPT didn’t dredge up an English translation of Paul Barth’s critique of Marx but did provide some background information on the controversy the book stirred up with Marxists. Engels on Barth: “If Barth imagines that we deny all and every retroaction of the political, etc., reflexes of the economic movement upon that movement itself, he is simply contending against windmills. He ought at least take a glance at Marx’s Eighteenth Brumaire, which almost restricts itself to the treatment of the special role that political struggles and events play, naturally within the sphere of their general dependence upon economic conditions; or in Capital, e.g., the section on the working day, where legislation, which certainly is a political act, operates so decisively; or the section on the history of the bourgeoisie (Chap.24). Or else, why are we struggling for the political dictatorship of the proletariat, if political power has no economic effects? Force (i.e., the state power) is also an economic power!]
claimed that Marx regarded politics merely as the passive reflection of economics—something that could do nothing and had no efficacy. Engels rebutted this. He said: “If political power is powerless in the economic sphere, then why do we fight for the political dictatorship of the proletariat?” On the other hand, Engels also frankly acknowledged that he and Marx “shared the same fault.” He said:
“At first we placed the emphasis on deriving political ideas … from the economic facts that form the foundation; at the time that was necessary. But in doing so we neglected the formal side for the sake of the content.”
Marx-Engels Correspondence 1893, Engels to Franz Mehring
In fact, even before this Engels had already discovered—and sought to correct—this shortcoming in earlier theory. For instance, in Anti-Dühring, written between 1876 and 1878, he had already pointed to the relative independence of politics.
In particular, in his later years he further elaborated—through the lens of dialectics—the relationship between politics and economics, and especially emphasized the interactive effects of these two forces. He said:
“There is a reciprocity between two unequal forces; on the one side, the economic movement; on the other, the new political power which strives for the greatest possible independence and which having once arisen is endowed with its own movement. The economic movement, upon the whole, asserts itself but it is affected by the reaction of the relatively independent political movement which it itself had set up.
This political movement is on the one hand the state power, on the other, the opposition which comes to life at the same time with it. Just as the money market reflects, on the whole, with the qualifications indicated, the movement of the industrial market, but naturally in an inverted fashion, so there is reflected in the struggle between government and opposition, the struggle between already existing and contending classes but again in an inverted form, no longer direct but indirect, not as a class struggle but as a struggle for political principles. So inverted is this reflection that it required thousands of years to discover what was behind it.”
Marx-Engels Correspondence 1890, Engels to Conrad Schmidt In Berlin
London, October 27 1890
When discussing the basic proposition of the materialist conception of history, Engels also commented:
“If someone distorts this by saying that the economic factor is the only determining one, then he turns that proposition into an empty, abstract, absurd phrase.”
Marx-Engels Correspondence 1890, Engels to J. Bloch
In Berlin
London, September 21, 1890
What is especially worth noting is that, when discussing the relationship between politics and economics, Engels very carefully distinguished two situations.
- First: from the standpoint of the basic principles of the materialist conception of history—that is, from the standpoint of demonstrating the objective laws of social development—the “decisive factor” in the historical process “in the last instance” is the production and reproduction of real life.
- Second: with respect to a particular concrete historical period—i.e., when one is not trying to disclose the “in the last instance” driving cause of historical development—one cannot use the “principal principle” to replace the various “factors in interaction,” as Engels put it:
“But as soon as the question arises of describing any particular historical period, i.e., of practical application, the situation is different …”
Marx-Engels Correspondence 1890, Engels to J. Bloch
In Königsberg
Because Lenin lived in an era different from that of Marx and Engels, he confronted the concrete tasks of socialist revolution and construction. Therefore, when discussing the relationship between politics and economics, he focused less on explaining it in terms of the general laws of social development—this theoretical task had already been completed by Marx and Engels—and more on clarifying it through the more practical and more specific activities of revolutionary struggle and construction work. Accordingly, Lenin often expounded the relationship between politics and economics in light of the concrete circumstances and needs of the proletariat’s real struggle, thereby offering a highly valuable development of Engels’s later thinking.
As early as 1899, Lenin clearly pointed out the importance of political struggle relative to economic struggle. He held that “every economic struggle inevitably becomes a political struggle,” and that “to forget political struggle because of economic struggle is to betray the basic principle of the Social-Democratic movement worldwide.” In What Is To Be Done? Lenin further elaborated this view and sharply criticized the erroneous position of the Russian “Economists,” who confused the basic principles of historical materialism with the concrete struggle of the moment. At the time, the Russian “Economists” had declaimed with great passion:
“Let me ask: which Social-Democrat does not know that, according to the teachings of Marx and Engels, the economic interests of the various classes play the decisive role in history, and therefore the proletariat’s struggle for its own economic interests should have primary significance for its class development and its struggle for emancipation?”
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, BURNING QUESTIONS of our MOVEMENT, II The Spontaneity of the Masses and the Consciousness of the Social-Democrats
Lenin refuted this, saying:
“The word ‘therefore’ is used here in a completely improper way. From the principle that economic interests play the decisive role, one must by no means draw the conclusion that economic struggle (i.e., trade-union struggle) has primary significance, because, generally speaking, the most important, decisive ‘class interests’ can be satisfied only through a fundamental political transformation.”
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, BURNING QUESTIONS of our MOVEMENT, II The Spontaneity of the Masses and the Consciousness of the Social-Democrats
As Lenin’s leadership of Soviet socialist revolutionary and construction practice deepened, he continuously developed his ideas on the relationship between politics and economics. After the October Revolution, he drew the explicit conclusions that
“Politics is the concentrated expression of economics,” and that “compared with economics, politics cannot but take first place.”
V. I. Lenin, Once Again On The Trade Unions, The Current Situation and the Mistakes of Trotsky and Buhkarin
In sum, with respect to the interrelationship between politics and the economy, Marxism explains it on two levels.
First, in demonstrating the objective laws of social development, historical materialism holds that the economic base determines politics. But this refers only to the ultimate and fundamental driving force in historical development. As Engels put it:
“According to the materialist conception of history, the ultimately determining factor in the historical process is the production and reproduction of real life. Neither Marx nor I has ever asserted more than this.”
[Translator’s Note: The full paragraph develops this a bit further: “According to the materialist conception of history, the ultimately determining element in history is the production and reproduction of real life. Other than this neither Marx nor I have ever asserted. Hence if somebody twists this into saying that the economic element is the only determining one, he transforms that proposition into a meaningless, abstract, senseless phrase. The economic situation is the basis, but the various elements of the superstructure — political forms of the class struggle and its results, to wit: constitutions established by the victorious class after a successful battle, etc., juridical forms, and even the reflexes of all these actual struggles in the brains of the participants, political, juristic, philosophical theories, religious views and their further development into systems of dogmas — also exercise their influence upon the course of the historical struggles and in many cases preponderate in determining their form. There is an interaction of all these elements in which, amid all the endless host of accidents (that is, of things and events whose inner interconnection is so remote or so impossible of proof that we can regard it as non-existent, as negligible), the economic movement finally asserts itself as necessary. Otherwise the application of the theory to any period of history would be easier than the solution of a simple equation of the first degree.]
Marx-Engels Correspondence 1890, Engels to J. Bloch In Königsberg
Second, if we look at a particular historical cross-section—at the concrete practical activity by which the proletariat and its party transform society—then not only do politics and the economy interact, but politics is the concentrated expression of economic interests and therefore has primacy. Only when these two levels are taken together do we have the complete dialectical-materialist viewpoint.
III. Economic construction requires political guarantees
Clarifying the two levels of Marxism’s account of the relationship between politics and the economy is of great significance for the concrete practice of socialist revolution and construction. Especially after the proletariat seizes political power and enters the period of socialist economic construction, correctly handling the relationship between politics and the economy becomes particularly important.
Because Marx and Engels did not live to see socialist economic construction with their own eyes, this historical mission fell to Lenin. In 1920, when Russia was in “the period of transition from war to economic construction,” Lenin repeatedly emphasized that the “general political tasks of Soviet power” consisted precisely in carrying out socialist economic construction.
On November 3 of that year, he noted in a report:
“Every step we take toward defeating the White Guards shifts the center of gravity of the struggle, little by little, toward political work in the economic sphere.”
In Lenin’s view, proletarian politics has two principal aspects: politics in the sphere of class struggle, and politics in the sphere of economic construction—and, as the situation changes, the emphasis will move from the former to the latter. Accordingly, Lenin placed special stress on the “politics of state construction” and “politics in the economic sphere,” holding that politics means producing more grain and coal; and he pointed out:
“If one understands politics in the old way, one may commit very grave and serious errors.”
In his “Report on the Work of the Council of People’s Commissars,” Lenin also said:
“Comrades, economic tasks, the economic front, are again and again assuming prominence as the chief and fundamental tasks and the basic front confronting us,” and he called on everyone to “devote all attention to this work of economic construction.”
V. I. Lenin, Eighth All-Russia Congress of Soviets, Part II Report On The Work Of The Council Of People’s Commissars December 22
He further proposed that, going forward, talking less about politics would be the best kind of politics.
Lenin’s development of the above ideas was not accidental. After the Russian proletariat seized power through the October Revolution and crushed imperialist armed intervention, circumstances changed. The proletariat’s fundamental economic interests came to be concentrated in socialist construction; accordingly, Lenin timely emphasized the “politics” of economic construction, aligning with the needs of historical development.
However, even when economic construction became the center of work, Lenin still did not treat politics as something optional. Instead, he upheld the primacy of politics relative to economics. In 1920–1921, Lenin and Trotsky entered into a dispute over the role and tasks of the trade unions. Lenin reaffirmed the view that politics is the concentrated expression of economics, and that politics, compared with economics, occupies the first place.
At the time, Trotsky and others accused Lenin of viewing problems “from a political standpoint,” whereas they claimed to view them “from an economic standpoint.” Trotsky further reproached Lenin, saying: “Comrade Lenin, in the concluding remarks of his report on our situation at the Eighth Congress of Soviets, once said that we should do a little less politics and a little more economics; but on the trade-union question he puts the political aspect of the matter first.”
In response, Lenin incisively retorted that Trotsky thought these words “hit the nail on the head,” when in fact they only showed that Trotsky was utterly confused, and that his “ideological confusion” had reached an extreme. “Naturally, in the past, now, and in the future I have wished that we do a little less politics and a little more economics. But it is not difficult to understand that, to achieve this wish, there must be no political dangers and no political mistakes.”
Lenin also addressed Trotsky’s and Bukharin’s claim that they were concerned with raising production while Lenin was concerned only with “formal democracy,” and he categorically pointed out:
“That is incorrect, because the whole point (from the Marxist standpoint, and can only be the point) is this: if a class does not handle political questions correctly, it cannot maintain its rule, and therefore it cannot solve its production tasks.”
V. I. Lenin, Once Again On The Trade Unions, The Current Situation and the Mistakes of Trotsky and Buhkarin
When Russia was placing economic construction at the center of its work, Lenin still advanced the thesis that “politics, as compared with economics, must take first place.” This is not a merely situational or ad hoc view, but a basic political principle of general significance. The more a proletarian party must lead the people in economic construction, the more it must properly handle political questions and formulate correct policies. Political mistakes will, in the end, inevitably affect economic development; economic construction must have political guarantees.
When China was placing economic construction at the center of its work, Deng Xiaoping emphasized:
“While working with complete dedication for the Four Modernizations, we must, with equal dedication, preserve and develop a political situation marked by stability, unity and liveliness.”
Deng Xiaoping, Adhere to the Party Line and Improve Methods of Work, 1980
“If there is no strong, centralized leadership and strict organizational discipline; if we do not vigorously strengthen work and education to stabilize the social and political order; if we do not resolutely improve Party conduct and further restore the Party’s fine traditions of seeking truth from facts, the mass line, and hard struggle, then there may occur disturbances of all sizes that could originally have been avoided, causing our modernization drive to encounter serious obstacles just as it has taken its first step.”
Deng Xiaoping, Implement the Policy of Readjustment, Ensure Stability and Unity, 1980
It can thus be seen that, at any time, political questions always occupy first place. “To say (or merely to imply) that to look at things politically and to look at them ‘economically’ are equally valuable and can be done is to forget the ABC of Marxism.” Trotsky and Bukharin were completely wrong on the relationship between politics and economics. They took an erroneous, eclectic stance and violated the scientific principles of materialist dialectics. In practical work, dialectically handling the relationship between politics and economics is an important expression of political art.
Section 2 Democratic centralism as a basic principle
I. The fundamental organizational principle of the Party and the state is democratic centralism
Compared with the economy, politics occupies the primary place, which shows the status and role of politics in social and economic life. However, as a science and an art, politics can be properly understood, grasped, and handled only by following certain principles and methods. Democratic centralism is precisely the fundamental organizational principle that Marxism applies to the proletarian party and the proletarian state.
First, democratic centralism is the fundamental organizational principle of the proletarian party. In the Marxist view, a proletarian party is neither a simple sum of membership numbers nor a simple federation of the Party’s various organizations; rather, it is a unified organic whole in which all Party members and Party organizations at every level are organized according to definite discipline. Building a proletarian party on the principle of democratic centralism is an important principle in the Marxist theory of party-building, and it is also one of the important marks distinguishing the proletarian party from other parties.
Marx and Engels, when founding the world’s first working-class party—the Communist League—had already put forward the basic ideas of democratic centralism. Although at that time they did not yet explicitly use the concept “democratic centralism,” they consistently treated the unity of democracy and centralism as the basic principle of organizational activity; the principle of democratic centralism already had a rudimentary form.
The organizational statutes of both the Communist League and the First International stipulated elections and recall from the bottom up. In organizational life, Marx and Engels upheld complete equality among all members and upheld the principle that the minority submits to the majority. At the same time, the League’s statutes also stipulated that members must maintain political unity with the League, that their “mode of life and activity must conform to the League’s aims,” that they must “obey all the League’s decisions,” and so on—thus insisting on centralized and unified leadership.
In the course of building the Russian Bolshevik Party, Lenin was the first to put forward explicitly the concept of democratic centralism. Sometimes Lenin said the Party was organized according to democratic principles; at other times he said it was organized according to centralism; in both cases he meant democratic centralism. Lenin held that the Party’s basic-level organizations should truly become the cells of the Party organism, and that all higher bodies should be genuinely elected bodies that report on their work and can be recalled. At the same time, he pointed out:
“To ensure Party unity, to ensure the centralisation of Party work, there is still need of organisational unity, and in a party that has grown to be anything more than a mere family circle such unity is inconceivable without formally adopted rules, without the subordination of the minority to the majority, and of the part to the whole.”
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (THE CRISIS IN OUR PARTY), Q. The New Iskra. Opportunism In Questions Of Organisation
Lenin not only wrote democratic centralism into the Russian Party rules; he also extended it to the building of Communist parties in all countries, and he explicitly laid down the requirement:
“Parties belonging to the Communist International must be organised on the principle of democratic centralism.”
V. I. Lenin, Terms of Admission into Communist International
The reason a proletarian party must adhere to the principle of democratic centralism is that it has to be a unified, organized whole—something determined by the Party’s nature and tasks. As the vanguard of the working class, if it is to shoulder the historic responsibilities entrusted to it, it must concentrate the power of the working class and the broad masses of the people, act in unison, and carry out struggle in an organized and led way. This requires not only correct theory, a program, a line, and policies; it also requires that the Party itself be a unified and organized whole. The proletariat’s strength lies in organization. Lenin pointed out:
“The proletariat can become—and inevitably will become—an invincible force only because its ideological unity, formed in accordance with the principles of Marxism, is reinforced by the material unity of organization—an organization that welds millions of working people into an army of the working class.”
Lenin, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back : The Crisis In Our Party
Only by following the principle of democratic centralism can the Party become an organized whole.
Second, democratic centralism is not only the fundamental organizational principle of the proletarian party; it is also the basic organizational principle of the proletariat’s socialist state. Marxism holds that a socialist state must adopt a democratic republican system. As a state system, the socialist democratic republic includes two aspects: in terms of the state’s class nature, democracy and dictatorship are linked together; in terms of the form of government, democracy and centralism are linked together. This means implementing the principle of democratic centralism—that is, on the basis of a high degree of democracy, carrying out a high degree of centralization. The unity of democracy and dictatorship, and the unity of democracy and centralism, are the basic characteristics of the socialist democratic republic.
Marx and Engels did not work out a detailed institutional blueprint for the state system of a future society, but they did put forward an overall principle—the “social republic.”
Engels stated explicitly in his 1891 “A Critique of the Draft Social-Democratic Program of 1891” that the “democratic republic” is the specific form suited to the dictatorship of the proletariat. At the same time, they subjected bourgeois hypocritical “democracy,” oligarchic politics, and anarchism to unsparing criticism—critiques that laid a theoretical foundation for democratic centralism.
Lenin specified still more concretely the ways socialist state organs should be organized and how they should operate. He noted that socialist political organization should
“ensure the combination of the advantages of parliamentarism with those of direct democracy; that is, it should combine the legislative function and the function of executing the laws in the elected representatives of the people.”
Vladimir Lenin, Can the Bolsheviks Retain State Power?
This in effect already spelled out the basic content of democratic centralism.
Drawing on relevant Marxist ideas, Mao Zedong advanced a complete and systematic theory of state power based on democratic centralism. In On New Democracy he held that the governmental structure (polity) of the new-democratic state should be a system of the National People’s Congress together with local people’s congresses at all levels, implementing a system of universal and equal elections—“this system is democratic centralism.” Later, he further pointed out that democratic centralism “is both democratic and centralized; that is, centralism on the basis of democracy and democracy under centralized guidance.
Only this system can both give expression to broad democracy, so that the people’s congresses at all levels have a high degree of authority, and also centrally handle state affairs, so that governments at all levels can centrally deal with all matters entrusted to them by the people’s congresses at their respective levels, while guaranteeing all necessary democratic activities of the people.
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung,ON NEW DEMOCRACY, January 1940
In short, according to Marxist principles of political science, democratic centralism is the basic principle governing the organization and activity of all state organs in a socialist state.
II. Centralism on the basis of democracy, and democracy under centralized guidance
Whether as an organizational principle of the proletarian party or as an organizational principle of socialist state power, the essence of democratic centralism lies in the dialectical relationship between democracy and centralism. Democracy and centralism form a dialectical unity: they depend on and constrain each other and are inseparable—namely, centralism on the basis of democracy and democracy under centralized guidance. Mao Zedong pointed out:
“Within the ranks of the people, democracy is correlative with centralism, and freedom with discipline. They are the two opposites of a single entity, contradictory as well as united, and we should not one-sidedly emphasize one to the exclusion of the other. … This unity of democracy and centralism, of freedom and discipline, constitutes our democratic centralism.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ON THE CORRECT HANDLING OF CONTRADICTIONS AMONG THE PEOPLE, February 27, 1957
To uphold democratic centralism, the first requirement is broad inner-Party democracy and people’s democracy; this is the prerequisite and foundation for forming correct centralization and unity. From the very beginning, when Marx and Engels were founding the proletarian party, they attached great importance to the question of Party democracy. In On the History of the Communist League, Engels wrote:
“The organisation itself was thoroughly democratic; its committees were elected and could at any time be recalled. This fact alone blocked the path of any plotters addicted to dictatorial schemes.”
Lenin likewise gave an explicit definition of the breadth of socialist democracy, pointing out that proletarian democracy is
“precisely democracy for the vast majority of the population, i.e., for the exploited working people—a democracy which has developed and expanded in the world in an unprecedented way.”
Vladimir Lenin, The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky, Bourgeois And Proletarian Democracy
Only by fully promoting democracy can correct centralization be guaranteed. The more democracy develops, the firmer the basis of centralization becomes, and the more comprehensive, richer, and more correct what is centralized will be. As Mao Zedong put it:
“Without fully implementing proletarian democracy, there can be no genuine proletarian centralism”; and if one departs from fully promoting democracy, then “this centralization, this unity … can only be false, empty, and wrong.”
Selected, Works of Mao Tse-tung, Talk At An Enlarged Working Conference Convened By The Central Committee Of The Communist Party Of China, January 30, 1962
On the other hand, democracy cannot be separated from centralization. Socialist democracy is democracy with leadership; it is democracy under centralized guidance. Inner-Party democracy and people’s democracy are both realized under the leadership of the proletarian party, and both are constrained by Party discipline and the laws of the state. Without the Party’s centralized and unified leadership, and without the constraints of discipline, extreme liberalization will arise—and there can be no genuine democracy. On this issue, Marx emphasized: “We must now absolutely maintain Party discipline; otherwise we shall accomplish nothing.” [Marx to Engels letter of May 18, 1859]
Lenin repeatedly underscored the importance of centralization and discipline in the Party; he once said:
“The unconditional centralization of the proletariat and the strictest discipline are among the fundamental conditions for victory over the bourgeoisie.”
Vladimir Lenin, “Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder, An Essential Condition of the Bolsheviks’ Success
Only by strengthening the Party’s centralized and unified leadership, and strengthening discipline, can the socialist democratic system operate normally. Those currents of thought that deny a high degree of centralization and strict discipline are harmful; Marxist classic authors criticized them long ago. Engels, taking aim at tendencies that repudiated centralization, wrote:
“To wage a struggle we must weld all our forces into a single fist and direct them to a single point of attack. If someone tells me that authority and centralization are, in all circumstances, two things that must be condemned, then I think that the person who says this either does not know what a revolution is, or else is only a revolutionary in words.”
[Engels’s letter to Carlo Terzaghi dated 14–15 January 1872)]
Overall, democratic centralism is the dialectical unity and organic integration of democracy and centralism. Although, under different conditions and in light of actual circumstances, when opposing a particular mistaken tendency it may be necessary to place special emphasis either on the democratic aspect or on the centralist aspect, one must never neglect or deny the other aspect. Rather, both must be taken into account.
As Mao Zedong pointed out:
“Within the ranks of the people, we cannot do without freedom, nor can we do without discipline; we cannot do without democracy, nor can we do without centralism.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ON THE CORRECT HANDLING OF CONTRADICTIONS AMONG THE PEOPLE, February 27, 1957
To be adept at grasping, in political practice, the dialectical relationship between democracy and centralism is precisely an expression of political artistry.
Marxist principles of political science also teach that, to correctly grasp the scientific meaning of democratic centralism, one must draw clear boundaries between democratic centralism on the one hand, and bureaucratic centralism and anarchism on the other. Bureaucratic centralism is centralism without democracy; it inevitably leads to feudal autocracy and dictatorship, as well as bourgeois oligarchy—something the revolutionary teachers resolutely repudiated.
Marx and Engels declared in The Communist Manifesto:
“The first step in the revolution by the working class is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class, to win the battle of democracy.”
Lenin went further, pointing out that bourgeois parliamentarism fuses democracy together with bureaucracy, whereas proletarian democracy
“immediately takes steps to root out bureaucracy, and is able to carry these steps through to the end, until bureaucracy is completely abolished and democracy for the people is fully realized.”
Lenin, The State and Revolution, The Vulgarization of Marxism by the Opportunists
Under the conditions of the dictatorship of the proletariat, if “centralism on the basis of democracy” is not implemented correctly, bureaucratism, commandism, and even arbitrary personal rule can also arise.
Anarchism is an extreme democratization without centralism. It departs from “democracy under centralized guidance,” and inevitably results in dispersal and disorder. Waving the banner of “autonomy,” anarchism denies any authority; this is not only incompatible with democratic centralism, but also effaces the social nature of human beings. In criticizing Bakunin, Engels sharply observed:
“How could a society—even one consisting of only two persons—exist if each person did not give up some autonomy?”
Marx-Engels Correspondence 1872, Letter from Engels to Theodore Cuno
Engels also wrote in On Authority: “On the one hand, there is a certain authority, no matter how it arose; on the other hand, there is a certain subordination—two things which, whatever the form of social organization, are necessary for us under the material conditions on which the production and circulation of products depend.”
If bureaucratic centralism is something socialist states must discard, then anarchism is something no society can accept. In sum, to uphold democratic centralism one must guard against both bureaucratic centralism and anarchism—just as Lenin said:
“We stand for democratic centralism, but we must clearly understand how vastly democratic centralism differs, on the one hand, from bureaucratic centralism, and on the other hand, from anarchism.”
V. I. Lenin, Original Version of the Article, “The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government”
III. Creating a Higher and More Substantive Democracy
Democratic centralism is the dialectical unity of democracy and centralism; however, under different historical conditions and in different historical periods, the relative weight of democracy and centralism will also vary. As early as the beginning of the resistance against Japanese imperialist aggression, Mao Zedong, on the basis of changes in the situation at the time and the needs of struggle, put forward this idea. He said:
“If the Party is to have strength, it must rely on implementing the Party’s democratic centralism to arouse the initiative of the whole Party. In periods of reaction and civil war, centralism shows itself more. In the new period, centralism should be closely linked with democracy. Through the practice of democracy, bring into play the initiative of the whole Party. Through bringing into play the initiative of the whole Party, temper and train large numbers of cadres, wipe out the remnants of sectarian attitudes, and unite the whole Party like steel.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, THE TASKS OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY IN THE PERIOD OF RESISTANCE TO JAPAN, May 3, 1937
From the Marxist point of view, whether in the stage of socialist revolution or in the stage of socialist construction, there can be neither an absence of democracy nor an absence of centralism. Generally speaking, in the period when the proletariat seizes political power and carries out the socialist revolution—that is, in the period of class struggle—there should be relatively more centralism.
However after the proletariat has obtained political power, in the stage of peaceful socialist construction—especially when the proletarian party’s work focus has shifted to economic work and modernization—there should be relatively more democracy, and building a high level of socialist democracy becomes a real task. The bourgeoisie and all enemies of socialism oppose socialism with the pretext that “socialism eliminates democracy”; this is in fact slander against socialism. Although Marxism conducts a relentless critique of bourgeois democracy, this by no means implies that socialism does not need democracy. The revolutionary teachers long ago pointed out that socialism and democracy are inseparable: without democracy there can be no socialism.
Lenin once said:
“If democracy is not realised, socialism cannot be realised; and this includes two meanings: (1) if the proletariat does not prepare itself for the socialist revolution through the struggle for democracy, it cannot carry out that revolution; (2) if victorious socialism does not practise full democracy, it cannot preserve the victory it has won, nor can it lead humanity toward the withering away of the state.”
V. I. Lenin, A Caricature of Marxism and Imperialist Economism, 6. The Other Politicval Issues Raised and Distorted by P. Kievsky
Socialism not only cannot do without democracy; socialist democracy, both in content and in form, should be higher and more genuine than capitalist democracy. This requires drawing on, and sublating (negating while preserving), all the achievements of human civilization. Deng Xiaoping profoundly pointed out:
“In carrying out socialist modernization, we want, economically, to catch up with the advanced capitalist countries, and politically, to create a democracy that is higher and more substantive than the democracy of capitalist countries,”
Deng Xiaoping, On the Reform of the System of Party and State Leadership (18 Aug 1980).
Deng Xiaoping regarded this as one of the requirements for fully bringing into full play the superiority of the socialist system. In short, building a high level of socialist democracy is one of the basic strategic goals for a proletarian party in building socialism.
To create a form of democracy that is higher and more substantive than that found in capitalist states, socialist countries must correctly implement democratic centralism and improve inner-Party democracy and people’s democracy. According to relevant Marxist discussions, this mainly includes the following aspects:
First, we must create a sound political environment in which democracy is fully brought into play. We must first enliven democratic life within the Party. In inner-Party life we must adhere to the principles of
“say everything you know; hold nothing back,” “the speaker is not to be blamed; the listener should take warning,” and “if there is something wrong, correct it; if there is nothing wrong, take it as encouragement.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ON COALITION GOVERNMENT, April 24, 1945
We must practice the “Three Don’ts”:
- Don’t seize on someone’s words,
- Don’t slap labels on people, and
- Don’t beat people with a stick.
Mao Zedong once said that
“if there is a lack of democratic life within the Party, we won’t be able to reap the benefits of personal initiative.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, THE ROLE OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY IN THE NATIONAL WAR, October 1938
He called for education on democratic life within the Party, so that Party members understand what democratic life is and what the relationship is between democracy and centralism, thereby genuinely expanding democratic life within the Party. Next, we must fully develop people’s democracy, strengthen the socialist legal system, follow the mass line, and overcome subjectivism, commandism, and bureaucratism.
Lenin pointed out:
“For us, what is important is to draw all working people, without exception, into governing the state… socialism cannot be achieved by a minority—by one party. Only when tens of millions learn to do this themselves can socialism be achieved.”
Second, we must uphold collective leadership and oppose arbitrary one-man rule. This must be ensured by improving the Party committee system. Mao Zedong clearly pointed out:
“The Party committee system is an important Party institution for ensuring collective leadership and preventing any individual from monopolizing the conduct of affairs.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ON STRENGTHENING THE PARTY COMMITTEE SYSTEM, September 20, 1948
To improve the Party committee system, we must correctly handle the relationship between the secretary and the committee members. This relationship is an equal one; it is a relationship in which the minority submits to the majority, not a superior–subordinate relationship. No one—including the Party’s top leader—may place themselves above the Party committee and the collective. Of course, collective leadership must also be organically combined with a division of labor and individual responsibility;
“Using collective leadership as a pretext while no one is held responsible is the most dangerous scourge.”
Third, we must reform the political system and improve the political institutions of socialist democracy. In essence, the socialist political system is superior and democratic, but because of various historical and social factors, this superiority has not yet been fully brought into play. Therefore, in accordance with the principle of democratic centralism, we must continually improve the socialist political system through reform and build a high level of socialist democracy.
In his later years Lenin sharply criticized such abuses as bureaucratism within the Soviet state apparatus, calling for the view that
“now that peace has arrived and the minimum needs to escape hunger have been guaranteed, all work should be directed to improving the institutions.”
Lenin, Letter to the Congress, 1922
Deng Xiaoping also criticized such phenomena in China’s political system as bureaucratism, excessive concentration of power, patriarchal practices, and the life tenure system for leading cadres, along with other forms of privilege. He pointed out that giving full play to democracy in political life is required by the superiority of the socialist system, whereas the above-mentioned abuses seriously obstruct the realization of that superiority; therefore, reform of the Party and state leadership system is imperative.
In sum, proletarian parties and proletarian states must, in accordance with the principle of democratic centralism, strive to build a high level of socialist democracy. If people’s democracy and inner-Party democracy are not fully developed then
“the dictatorship of the proletariat would turn into a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, and it will be a reactionary, fascist-type dictatorship.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Talk At An Enlarged Working Conference Convened By The Central Committee Of The Communist Party Of China, January 30, 1962
This is by no means alarmist talk; it is a truth revealed by Marxism.
Section 3 The mass line is a basic method of leadership
I. Historical activity is the undertaking of the masses
Politics, as a science and an art, has not only certain organizational principles but also certain methods of leadership. The mass line is the most fundamental principle in Marxist political science concerning methods of leadership.
Marxism holds that it is the people who make history. The existence and development of human society first require material means of subsistence such as clothing, food, and shelter. If people cannot first obtain these material necessities, they cannot even sustain human survival itself, still less engage in political, scientific, or artistic activity. The material means of subsistence on which human society depends are created by the laboring masses through their own labor. The productive activity of the laboring masses is the premise and foundation of all social activity. It is just because practical activity in material production becomes the fundamental driving force of social development, the broad masses of the people—who in various forms engage in and promote productive practice—play a decisive role in social development.
At the same time, the people also create the preconditions that make spiritual and cultural life possible; the social practice of the people is the source of humanity’s spiritual wealth, and thus the people are also the creators of spiritual wealth. The people are not only the creators of material and spiritual wealth; they are also the decisive force in social transformation. In class society, changes in relations of production and the replacement of social systems must be realized through revolutionary class struggle in which the broad masses participate. In short, history is created by the people; the people are the true masters of history—just as Marx and Engels said:
“Historical activity is the undertaking of the masses.”
Since historical activity is the undertaking of the masses, the political activity of the proletariat should take the greatest interests of the masses as the point of departure and the final destination of all work. This requires upholding the mass line of the proletarian party. The so-called mass line means: everything for the masses, everything relying on the masses; everything comes from the masses and goes to the masses; and maintaining close ties with the masses. Maintaining the closest connection with the broad masses of the people is one of the most salient marks distinguishing a proletarian party from any other party.
The relationship between the Party and the masses is like the relationship between flesh and blood: if one breaks away from the masses and loses the people’s trust, it is extremely dangerous. In this sense, the Party’s mass line is the wellspring of the Party’s life.
Lenin said:
“The working people support us. Our strength lies in that. The source of the invincibility of the world communist movement lies in that.”
“Victory will belong only to those who have faith in the people, those who are immersed in the life-giving spring of popular creativity.”
V. I. Lenin The Workers’ State and Party Week
To uphold the mass line, one must first possess a mass standpoint; this is the basic precondition for implementing the mass line. Marxism’s mass standpoint mainly includes the following three aspects.
First is the viewpoint of doing everything for the masses, serving the people wholeheartedly. Apart from seeking the interests of the broadest masses of the people, the proletarian party has no special interests of its own; being responsible to the Party and being responsible to the people are consistent.
“All the words and actions of Communists must take as the highest standard that they conform to the maximum interests of the broadest masses of the people, and that they are supported by the broad masses of the people.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ON COALITION GOVERNMENT,April 24, 1945
Under any circumstances, the people’s interests must be safeguarded; this is the purpose of the proletarian party. To serve the people, one must maintain close ties with the masses, listen to their opinions, care about their lives—just as Lenin pointed out:
“What we need is a party capable of maintaining regular and genuinely close contact with the masses.”
V. I. Lenin, The Second Congress Of The Communist International[1]
July 19-August 7, 1920
Second is the viewpoint of relying on the masses in everything, and believing that the masses can liberate themselves. What distinguishes Marxism from all other socialist theories is that it can, with an extremely scientific and cool-headed attitude, analyze the objective situation and the objective course of evolutionary development, while at the same time it resolutely recognizes the significance of the masses’ “revolutionary energy, revolutionary creative genius, and revolutionary initiative.”
The masses of the people are the driving force of historical development; they are the true heroes. Only by firmly believing in and relying on the majority of the masses can the proletarian party fulfill its historical mission. Marx and Engels placed the greatest trust in the masses; as early as the founding of the Communist International, they explicitly laid down a fighting slogan:
“The emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves.”
The International Workingmen’s Association, General Rules, October 1864
Lenin also pointed out that Soviet power was able to achieve victory
“because from the very outset Soviet power followed the inherent precepts of socialism, relying thoroughly and steadfastly on the masses.”
V. I. Lenin, Third All-Russia Congress Of Soviets Of Workers’, Soldiers’ And Peasants’ Deputies[1], January 10-18 (23-31), 1918
Third is the attitude of learning modestly from the masses. If a proletarian party is to serve the people and lead the masses forward, it must be good at learning from the masses and drawing wisdom and strength from them. Marxism holds that “the wisdom of tens of millions of creators will create something immeasurably higher than the greatest foresight of genius.” [Lenin]
If one learns humbly from the masses, one can correct errors in the revolutionary struggle and improve the proletariat’s art of leadership.
Lenin once said:
“Yes, we have made many mistakes, but the workers themselves are creating socialism; whatever mistakes we have made, we are learning in this practice and laying the foundation for the art of making revolution correctly.”
Vladimir Lenin, Speech In Polytechnical Museum, August 23, 1918
II. Policy should be framed with tens of millions of people in mind
To establish a correct mass viewpoint is to better implement the mass line in practical work, and to carry out leadership and formulate policy in accordance with that viewpoint. Marxism holds that if a proletarian party is to maintain the closest ties with the masses of the people and lead them to victory, the most basic requirement is to ensure that the policies of the Party and the state conform to the people’s interests.
Lenin pointed out:
“The masses number in the millions—policy should be framed with tens of millions in mind, not with a few thousand in mind. Only by framing things with tens of millions in mind can there be a policy based on realities and facts.”
Marxism stresses that, in formulating any policy, a proletarian party must take facts as its foundation. Lenin repeatedly emphasized: “Facts are the basis of our policy.” Marxism requires that when determining any major policy, we must take as the policy’s foundation and basis facts that can withstand precise, objective verification. Then how can policy be made to rest on facts? This requires following the mass line.
Socialism is great precisely because it is
“for the first time built by the real masses, by the broad majority of working people themselves, who use their own experience to solve the most difficult problems of socialist organization in building a new life.”
V.I. Lenin, Letter To American Workers
Therefore, only by framing policy with tens of millions of people in mind—trusting the masses, relying on the masses, and taking the masses’ experience and wisdom as the foundation of policy—can policy accord with reality, and only then can it be ensured that policy accords with the interests of the masses of the people.
So, does emphasizing the use of the masses’ experience and wisdom in policymaking mean neglecting the role of the proletarian party in making policy? Marxism has always attached importance to the proletarian party’s political leadership, but that does not mean the Party may make policy on the basis of its own subjective will. To be sure, the purpose of a proletarian party is to serve the people wholeheartedly; in a fundamental sense, the interests of the Party and the broad masses are consistent; and the policies the Party formulates are meant to advance the people’s welfare.
However while that is true with respect to the starting point of the problem, not necessarily with respect to the result. If the Party cannot proceed from reality—if it does not take as its point of reference the millions upon millions of people, but instead proceeds only from its policymakers’ subjective wishes and abstract theoretical principles, focusing thereby on a small minority—then the policies it formulates will depart from the masses and from reality. In that case, however good the intentions may be, the expected results still cannot be achieved.
When Lenin was giving lessons to the British “Left” communists, he said that in great revolutionary struggles it is not enough to lead the masses by emotion alone; even mistakes made by people who are boundlessly loyal to the revolutionary cause can harm that cause. He warned that scientific policy requires taking account of all active forces—classes and masses—and that one must
“never determine policy solely on the basis of the wishes and views, the level of consciousness, and the determination to struggle of a single group or a single political party.”
Vladimir Lenin, “Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder
Practice in the international communist movement shows that proletarian parties, too, can at times commit subjective errors: starting from theory, starting from books and dogma. To correct such deviations in a real and effective way, one must persist in following the mass line.
The role of the masses in the policy-formulation process lies precisely in this: they do not proceed from dogma, but from reality. The masses’ own vigorous and powerful movement can, like the removal of useless rotten matter, sweep away concocted plans dreamed up in offices. This can make up for decision-makers’ deficiencies—just as Lenin pointed out: the masses look at problems not through theory but through practice, and our mistake is that we always look at problems from theory.
In short, for a proletarian party, only by adhering to the mass line and keeping in view the millions upon millions of people is it possible to ensure that policy is grounded in facts; and only policies grounded in facts can genuinely conform to the interests of the broad masses. Whether this relationship is handled correctly is a matter that bears on the life or death of the Party and the state. Lenin once pointedly observed:
“In the sea of the people, we are after all but a drop; only when we correctly express what the people are conscious of can we administer. Otherwise the Communist Party cannot lead the proletariat, the proletariat cannot lead the masses, and the whole machine will fall apart.”
V. I. Lenin, Eleventh Congress Of The R.C.P.(B.)[1], March 27-April 2, 1922
III. From the masses, to the masses: a method of leadership decision-making
To ensure that a proletarian party, following the mass line, can formulate policies that truly accord with the interests of the people, it must have a scientific method of leadership decision-making. In the course of China’s revolutionary practice, Mao Zedong applied Marxism’s principles on maintaining close ties between the Party and the masses, together with the epistemology of dialectical materialism, to the sphere of political leadership and decision-making, and creatively advanced the leadership decision-making method of “from the masses, to the masses.” He said:
“In all the practical work of our Party, all correct leadership must be ‘from the masses, to the masses.’ That is to say, we take the ideas of the masses (scattered and unsystematic ideas) and concentrate them (through study, turning them into concentrated and systematic ideas), then go to the masses and propagate and explain these ideas, so that the masses make them their own, hold fast to them, and translate them into action, and test the correctness of these ideas in such action. Then we once again concentrate them from the masses, and once again go to the masses so that they hold fast to them. Thus the process goes on in an endless spiral, with the ideas becoming more correct, more vivid, and richer each time.” He also said: “To concentrate ideas from the masses and then go to the masses and persist in them, so as to form correct guiding ideas—this is the basic method of leadership.”
Mao Tse-tung, SOME QUESTIONS CONCERNING METHODS OF LEADERSHIP
June 1, 1943
The leadership decision-making method of “from the masses, to the masses” is fully consistent with Marxist epistemology.
Lenin said:
“From living perception to abstract thought, and from abstract thought to practice—this is the dialectical path for knowing truth, for knowing objective reality.”
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Conspectus of Hegel’s book, The Science of Logic
“From the masses” means transforming the lively, unsystematic views and feelings that exist among the masses into concentrated, systematic views through the process of abstract thinking; “to the masses” means bringing those abstracted and concentrated views back to the masses, turning them into the masses’ practical activity. Moreover, this movement from sensation to thought, and from thought to practice—that is, the process of “from the masses, to the masses”—cannot be completed in a single pass. It must be repeated in an endless cycle in order to yield knowledge that comes ever closer to objective facts.
As Engels pointed out:
“The sovereignty of thought is realized in a series of extremely non-sovereignly thinking individuals; the cognition that claims unconditional truth is realized in a series of relative errors; and both can be fully realized only through the infinite continuation of human life.”
Anti-Dühring by Frederick Engels 1877, Part I: Philosophy, IX. Morality and Law., Eternal Truths
“From the masses, to the masses” also fully accords with the actual requirements of proletarian-party leadership and decision-making. In the course of leading the Soviets, Lenin called upon Party organizations at all levels and Party members:
“All Party members should exert their utmost efforts to bring to the Party Congress practical experience that has been tested, refined, and summed up. If we do everything possible and are good at carefully, conscientiously, and truthfully collecting, testing, and refining practical experience—that is, what each of us has done and completed, and what we have seen others around us do and complete—if we can do this (and only if we can do this), then our Party Congress and all our Soviet institutions will be able, in the fastest and surest way, to solve the practical task of overcoming economic disruption.”
V. I. Lenin, A Letter To R.C.P. Organisations, On Preparations For The Party Congress
The leadership-and-decision method of “from the masses and to the masses” is consistent with Lenin’s above idea: it matches the process of collecting practical experience, refining and summarizing it, and then testing it in practice; it also fully accords with the general laws of leadership and decision-making. The “from the masses” part is the process of collecting, refining, and summarizing practical experience so as to formulate correct policies; the “to the masses” part is the process of implementing those policies, testing them in reality, and feeding the results back. This method of leadership and decision-making—“from the masses and to the masses”—is, as Lenin put it:
“From congresses and meetings to discuss general questions to congresses and meetings to summarise practical experience—that is the slogan of our times. The task of the moment and the task of time Party Congress, as we conceive it, is to learn from practical experience, to discard what is harmful, to combine all that is valuable, in order to determine precisely a number of immediate practical measures, and to carry out these measures at all costs, not hesitating at any sacrifices.”
V. I. Lenin, A Letter To R.C.P. Organisations, On Preparations For The Party Congress
This is the basic method by which a proletarian party carries out leadership and decision-making.
The working method of “from the masses and to the masses” concretizes and operationalizes, at the level of leadership and decision-making, the proletarian party’s close relationship with the masses. In doing so, it makes the mass line something that can be practically applied, and it provides a guarantee for correctly resolving the relationship between the Party’s line, guiding principles, and policies, on the one hand, and the practical activity of the people, on the other. It is a basic principle of Marxist political science in the domain of the science of leadership and decision-making.
From the masses, to the masses, as a working method, concretizes and makes real—at the level of leadership and decision-making—the close relationship between a proletarian party and the people. In this way it renders the mass line operational, provides a safeguard for correctly resolving the relationship between the Party’s line, principles, and policies and the practice of the people, and constitutes a basic principle of Marxist political science in the science of leadership and decision-making.
IV. Preventing Commandism and Tailism
For a proletarian party to correctly implement the mass line and to master the leadership method of “from the masses, to the masses,” it must, in practical work, pay attention to preventing two erroneous tendencies: commandism and tailism.
To uphold the mass line means fully trusting the masses, relying on the masses, and keeping close ties with them; it means not treating the masses in a bureaucratic and commandist way, and not formulating policies and carrying out work in a manner that goes beyond the masses’ level of consciousness and their wishes.
Lenin pointed out:
“The lively, creative activity of the masses is the basic factor of the new social life. … Socialism is not created by orders from on high. It is fundamentally incompatible with bureaucratic, official mechanical methods; living, creative socialism is created by the masses themselves.”
V. I. Lenin, Meeting Of The All-Russia Central Executive Committee, November 4 (17), 1917
Mao Zedong, in summing up the experience of the Chinese revolution, said that all correct tasks, policies, and work styles are suited to the demands of the masses in the given time and place, and are connected with the masses. He called on the whole Party to educate every comrade to love the people, to listen attentively to the voice of the masses; wherever one goes, to become one with the masses there—not to sit loftily above them, but to go deep among them; to enlighten and raise the masses’ consciousness in accordance with their level of consciousness; and, on the principle of the masses’ inner and voluntary willingness, to help them gradually organize, and gradually to launch struggles permitted by the internal and external environment of the given time and place.
In short, a proletarian party must correctly express the desires of the people and must not adopt commandist methods; otherwise it will become detached from the masses and bring harm to the Party’s cause.
Just as Lenin said:
“For a numerically small Communist Party, for the vanguard of the working class leading a vast country in transition to socialism, one of the greatest and most serious dangers is becoming detached from the masses—the danger that the vanguard may run too far ahead, may fail to straighten out the line, and may fail to maintain firm contact with the whole army of labour, that is, with the great majority of workers and peasants.”
V. I. Lenin, Draft Theses on the Role and Functions of The Trade Unions Under the New Economic Policy
Believe in the masses, rely on the masses, and maintain close ties with the masses—this does not mean that a proletarian party may abandon its responsibility to guide and educate the masses, trailing behind them and becoming their “tail.” Lenin pointed out:
“The party is the vanguard of the class; its task is by no means to reflect the general mood of the masses, but to lead the masses forward.”
V. I. Lenin, The Extraordinary All-Russia Congress Of Soviets Of Peasants’ Deputies
November 10-25 (November 23-December 8), 1917
Especially at critical moments of revolution,
“the leaders of the party must advance tasks more broadly and more boldly, so that their slogans always run ahead of the revolutionary spontaneity of the masses and become their beacon.”
V. I. LENIN, TWO TACTICS OF SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY IN THE DEMOCRATIC
REVOLUTION, Chapter 13 Conclusion Dare We Win?
The slogan that “whatever the masses want to do, let them do” is thoroughly wrong: it neglects the party’s role as the proletarian vanguard, violates the principle of democratic centralism, and in practice amounts to an irresponsible attitude toward the people.
Mao Zedong also criticized tailism within the Chinese Communist Party. In his speech at the Jin-Sui Cadres Conference, he said that on the question of the relationship between the Party and the masses, it should be:
“So far as the correct opinions of the broad masses are concerned, the Party must, in light of the circumstances, lead the masses and realize them; but as for incorrect opinions arising among the people, the Party must educate the masses and correct them.”
Mao Tse-tung, SPEECH AT A CONFERENCE OF CADRES IN THE SHANSI-SUIYUAN LIBERATED AREA, April 1, 1948
From this it can be seen that tailism, like commandism, cannot correctly handle the relationship between the Party and the masses. Both are incorrect working methods, as Mao summed up:
“In all work, commandism is wrong, because it goes beyond the level of consciousness of the masses, violates the principle of voluntariness, and brings on an acute illness… Tailism is also wrong, because it lags behind the level of consciousness of the masses, violates the principle of leading the masses one step forward, and brings on a chronic illness.”
Mao Tse-tung, SOME QUESTIONS CONCERNING METHODS OF LEADERSHIP
June 1, 1943
In short, practicing correct leadership in accordance with the mass line is a profound political art. As Stalin put it:
“The art of leadership is a serious matter. One must not lag behind the movement, because to do so is to lose contact with the masses. But neither must one run too far ahead, because to run too far ahead is to lose the masses and to isolate oneself. He who wants to lead a movement and at the same time keep in touch with the vast masses must wage a fight on two fronts—against those who lag behind and against those who run too far ahead.”
J. V. Stalin, Dizzy with Success: Concerning Questions of the Collective-Farm Movement
Yet the true art of leadership lies in being able, in different historical periods, to keep close ties with the masses and correctly guide them forward, in accordance with the Party’s shifting center of work. In this respect Lenin set an example. In the early period after Soviet power was established, the Bolshevik Party focused its attention on issuing and publicizing decrees. Some people mocked the Bolsheviks, saying they “did not know that people do not carry out their decrees.”
But Lenin believed this was correct; as a result, they won a high level of trust among the people:
“This is a stage that the early period of revolution inevitably has to pass through; otherwise we would not have been able to stay in front of the revolutionary wave, and could only have trailed behind it as its tail.”
However, as the center of work shifted, Lenin criticized this approach, pointing out that “attention should not be concentrated on legislative work, on issuing improved decrees, and so on,” and that
“this stage has already passed, yet we are unwilling to understand it. Now if anyone again tries to set up or reorganize any institution by issuing orders, the workers and peasants will laugh. Now the ordinary worker and peasant is no longer interested in this; and they are right, because the emphasis now is not here.”
V. I. Lenin, Eleventh Congress Of The R.C.P.(B.)
March 27-April 2, 1922
From this it can be seen that the boundary between commandism and tailism is not absolute but relative, and must be analyzed and grasped concretely in light of changing circumstances. Just as Lenin pointed out:
“The whole art of management and policy consists in making a timely estimate and understanding where the main forces and attention should be concentrated.”
V. I. Lenin, The New Economic Policy And The Tasks Of The Political Education Departments: Report To The Second All-Russia Congress Of Political Education Departments October 17, 1921
Section 4 Dividing the functions of the Party and state organs
I. For the Party to lead well, Party and government must be separated
Politics, as both a science and an art, is reflected in the proletarian party’s leadership of state life. Here there is a question of both strengthening the Party’s leadership and improving the way it leads—in other words, it is necessary to “solve the problem of how the Party can be good at leading.” This requires that we scientifically define the relationship between the Party and the other political organizations—especially its relationship with the organs of state power—and raise the art of political leadership.
Marxism holds that the proletarian party is the leading core of the socialist cause, and that its mission is to lead the working class and all other organizations—this is a fundamental principle that must be upheld. But how the Party leads, and how it establishes correct relations with other organizations, must be continuously improved and perfected in accordance with changes in historical conditions.
Before the proletariat seizes power, and in the initial period after it does so, the principal forms of struggle are violent revolution and the defense of the newly born political power. All the work of the Party and of the other organizations must be subordinated to the needs of revolutionary struggle. Tasks are relatively concentrated and single-minded; the situation changes quickly and abruptly; war develops tensely and fiercely. Proceeding from these objective circumstances and characteristics, the Party must exercise centralized and unified leadership.
The first to propose this idea and put it into practice was Lenin. Living in the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution, Lenin saw that the “Economist” and Narodnik movements in Russia at the end of the nineteenth century had already shown in practice that it was impossible, by “handicraft methods,” to organize a mighty proletarian force; and that the adventurous, clandestine actions of isolated radical individuals could do no more than replace a few leading figures of the old regime, and could never ultimately achieve the goal of proletarian seizure of power.
On this basis Lenin advanced his party-building conception of a “new type of party,” holding that if the Party was to defeat the enemy it had to change the internal phenomena of disorganization and indiscipline, form a clenched fist, and constitute a strong fighting whole:
“In its struggle for power, the proletariat has no other weapon but organization.”
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back. (THE CRISIS IN OUR PARTY)
Precisely under the Bolshevik Party’s centralized leadership did Russia win the victory of the October Revolution. In the early period after revolutionary victory, the young Soviet regime again faced extremely severe trials. Lenin then proposed that the Party’s central organs “must possess broad powers” and “become an authoritative institution.” In this way Soviet Russia overcame foreign armed intervention and smashed the offensives of Denikin and others.
In China, because revolutionary organs of political power had already been established during the New Democratic Revolution, the Chinese Communist Party paid comparatively early attention to the Party–government relationship. In 1940, when discussing policy regarding organs of political power, Mao Zedong pointed out:
“We must resolutely carry out the ‘three-thirds system’: Communist Party members should occupy only one third of the positions in the organs of political power, and we should draw large numbers of non-Party people into participation in political power,” and “on no account should our Party monopolize everything.”
But because the revolutionary war at that time required it, a system of unified Party leadership in practice took shape: local Party committees uniformly directed the work of local governments and of various mass organizations. Overall, this pattern of unified Party leadership conformed to the characteristics of the struggle at the time and played a positive role.
However, this highly centralized and unified leadership method of the revolutionary-war period continued, so that later, during the period of socialist construction, a situation emerged in which Party and government were not distinguished and the Party substituted itself for the government.
However, because arrangement was not well suited to to the conditions and characteristics of the socialist construction period, more and more drawbacks became apparent. As early as March 1918, after Soviet Russia signed the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Germany and thereby gained an opportunity to readjust the national economy, strengthen state administration, and organize military forces, Lenin had already discovered that the drawbacks of not distinguishing Party leadership from government. Russian Communists—because they were carrying out the “tasks of state administration” placed before Soviet power—were “often compelled to pay excessive attention to petty details of administration.”
Lenin first advanced the idea that the dictatorship of the proletariat must be realized “through Soviet power,” thus expressing the notion of separating Party and government. At the Eighth Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in 1919, acting on Lenin’s proposal, a special resolution “On Organizational Questions” was adopted, clearly stipulating two basic principles for Party–government relations: the principle of leadership, and the principle of separating Party and government.
The resolution stated:
“The Communist Party sets itself the task of exercising decisive influence and taking full leadership in all organizations of the toilers (trade unions, cooperatives, agricultural communes, etc.). The Communist Party strives in particular to realize its programme and its complete rule in the present state organization—the Soviets.”
This is the leadership principle. The resolution also pointed out:
“Under no circumstances should the functions of Party organizations be confused with the functions of state bodies, i.e., the Soviets. … The Party should carry out its decisions through the Soviet organs, within the bounds of the Soviet constitution. The Party strives to lead the work of the Soviets, but it does not replace the Soviets.”
This is the principle of separating Party and government. Yet to genuinely achieve Party–government separation—to change the habitual leadership methods formed over a long period of revolutionary struggle—is extremely difficult and complex. Even in Lenin’s later years, the situation of Party–government non-separation and Party substitution for government remained very serious, and the drawbacks became even more obvious.
In 1922 Lenin delivered a political report and said:
“I should speak about the practical aspect of the problem of our highest Soviet institutions and the Party’s relationship with them. An incorrect relationship has taken shape between our Party and the Soviet organs, and this is something we all acknowledge. The example I have just cited shows that even some small, concrete matters were carried to the Politburo for decision. … All questions were transferred from the Council of People’s Commissars to the Politburo. Here my fault is also very great, because the Council of People’s Commissars and the Politburo were, in many respects, linked through me personally. Once I left work, both wheels immediately could not turn.”
V. I. Lenin, Eleventh Congress Of The R.C.P.(B.)[1]
March 27-April 2, 1922
In China, the Party’s model of unified leadership that took shape during the years of revolutionary war not only failed to undergo the changes it should have after the founding of the People’s Republic, but even developed in a more centralized direction. In particular, during the anti-decentralization campaigns of 1953 and 1958, the slogan “Grasp the major powers in one hand; decentralize the minor powers. The Party committee makes the decisions; all sides go and carry them out” was put forward, and it was widely publicized and implemented as an important principle of Party leadership.
However, treating the independent exercise of the proper powers and functions of government departments and mass organizations as “decentralism” and “making a bid for independence” to be criticized only aggravated the situation in which the Party substituted itself for the government, the Party took charge of everything, and power became excessively concentrated.
Deng Xiaoping offered a sharp critique of this situation, pointing out that “our leading organs at all levels have taken on many matters that they should not handle, cannot handle well, or are incapable of handling.”
Deng went further:
“The phenomenon of over-concentration of power arises when, under the slogan of strengthening the Party’s unified leadership, all power is inappropriately and indiscriminately concentrated in Party committees; and the power of Party committees is in turn often concentrated in a few secretaries—especially in the first secretary—so that in everything the first secretary must take command and have the final say. As a result, the Party’s unified leadership often turns into individual leadership.”
Deng Xiaoping, On the Reform of the System of Party and State Leadership
1980
This is one “root cause” of bureaucratism. Deng Xiaoping also proposed that political-structural reform should be used to “solve the problem of the relationship between the Party and the government.” “The Party must be good at leading; Party and government need to be separated.”
It can thus be seen that after a proletarian party establishes and consolidates state power, the Party–government relationship becomes a prominent issue. If the Party’s method of leadership from the revolutionary years is carried over after state power has been established, it will inevitably result in problems stemming from failing to make a proper distinction between the roles of the Party and the government. The substitution of the Party for the government is the result giving rise to many abuses. This, in the end, does not strengthen Party leadership; it weakens it. Therefore during the period of peaceful socialist construction, the relationship between the Party and state organs should be clarified, and separation of Party and government should be implemented.
II. Clearly defining the functions of the Party and the organs of state power
To correctly handle the relationship between the Party and the organs of state power, and to change the situation of Party–government indistinction and the substitution of the Party for the government, the key is to delineate scientifically and clearly the respective functions of the Party and the state organs. Lenin pointed out:
“It is necessary to draw a very clear dividing line between the functions of the Party (and its Central Committee) and those of the Soviet government… The Party’s task is to provide general leadership for the work of all state bodies, not to engage—as is now the case—in excessively frequent, abnormal, and often detail-level interference.”
Marxism holds that both political parties and state organs are part of the superstructure that is built upon, and serves, a specific economic base. In a socialist society, the Party and the state organs are both instruments of the dictatorship of the proletariat and “servants of society” serving the people. Their overall goal is to build socialism and realize communism; their fundamental task is to develop the productive forces and build a high level of socialist material and spiritual civilization. Therefore, speaking in overall terms, they should not—and cannot—be absolutely cut off from one another.
However, “the Party is the core of state power, but it and state power are not, and cannot be, one and the same thing.” [Translator’s note: the quote possibly from article by Stalin; PRC legal scholar Dong Biwu is another possible source for this quote. End note.]
In theory, a political party and state power differ in nature, organizational form, and mode of work; this is the condition and basis for making a scientific division of functions between the Party and the state power organs.
A proletarian party is the vanguard of the proletariat and the “highest form of proletarian association”. Therefore, it can represent the highest interests of its class and of the broad masses of working people, and can exercise overall leadership over the life of the state—something no other organization can replace. But the Party is, after all, “a conscious class party,” not a public authority of society; this is different from state power. In terms of form, the state is “the official representative of the whole of society, the concentrated expression of society in a visible organization,” although this does not conceal its class content. Thus the state differs from a political party: it can directly intervene in and administer the whole of society. As Lenin said, “the state is an administrative apparatus that has split off from human society,” and it “specializes in administration.”
A party, as an organization of a class, can only provide overall leadership to the state; it does not directly administer state affairs, nor can it perform administrative functions, because “administration is the organized activity of the state.”
As early as the period when he led the Jinggangshan revolutionary base area, Mao Zedong criticized the phenomenon whereby the Party, for the sake of convenience, “handled matters directly and pushed the organs of political power aside,” and he pointed out:
“From now on the Party must carry out its task of giving leadership to the government; with the exception of propaganda, the Party’s policies and the measures it recommends must be carried out through the government organizations.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, THE STRUGGLE IN THE CHINGKANG MOUNTAINS
November 25, 1928
Deng Xiaoping later also proposed: “Party committees should not set up economic management departments; the work of those departments should be handled by the government,” and “The Party should handle matters of Party discipline; matters within the scope of the law should be handled by the state and the government.” He further urged again and again: “The Party should be good at leading, and must not intervene in too many matters.”
It can thus be seen that the functions of the Party and of the state power organs are different. State organs have not only political functions but also social-management and administrative-management functions: they manage state affairs and administer economic, cultural, and social life. A political party, by contrast, provides overall leadership to the state; this overall leadership is not direct management of state affairs or specific administrative intervention, but political leadership, including setting lines, principles, and policies, and exercising leadership over the government. This is the general principle in Marxist political science concerning the division of functions between the Party and state organs.
To delineate the respective functions of the Party and the state organs and to implement a separation between Party and government is aimed at improving and strengthening the Party’s leadership. As Deng Xiaoping pointed out:
“Reform of the system of Party and state leadership is not intended to weaken Party leadership or to slacken Party discipline; on the contrary, it is precisely in order to uphold and strengthen Party leadership.”
Deng Xiaoping, On the Reform of the System of Party and State Leadership
1980
The so-called strengthening of Party leadership does not mean that the more matters the Party takes charge of, and the more minute the Party’s control becomes, the stronger Party leadership will be. In reality, once the Party becomes bogged down in routine administrative affairs and directly takes over the work that should be done by those it leads, it not only cannot concentrate its energies on studying major policies, but also cannot possibly get things done well; instead, it lowers itself to the position of being led.
This is just as Lenin criticized some leading Party cadres of the time: they
“issue orders and decrees right and left, but the result is absolutely the reverse of what was desired,” and “they think they are directing, but in fact they are being directed.”
V. I. Lenin, Eleventh Congress Of The R.C.P.(B.), March 27-April 2, 1922
It can thus be seen that failing to distinguish between Party and government—substituting the Party for the government in practice—actually lowers the Party’s leading position and weakens the Party’s leading role.
By contrast, scientifically delineating the functions of the Party and the state organs and implementing Party–government separation can mobilize the initiative of government work and raise efficiency.
Lenin long ago proposed dividing the responsibilities of the Party and Soviet state power in order to “increase the responsibility and independence of Soviet officials and of Soviet government institutions.”
Deng Xiaoping pointed out that low efficiency “in large part arises from the failure to separate Party and government: in many matters the Party has substituted for the government’s work, and many Party and government organs are duplicated.”
If Party–government separation is carried out—if the Party no longer becomes entangled in administrative affairs and the government is allowed to conduct its work independently within the scope of its authority—then efficiency can be improved and bureaucratism overcome. And when government work is done well, Party leadership can truly be strengthened, as Deng Xiaoping explained: “Government work, of course, is carried out under the Party’s political leadership; when government work is strengthened, Party leadership is also strengthened.”
Delineating the functions of the Party and state power and implementing Party–government separation can also enable the Party to concentrate its energies on its own work and on Party building. The Party’s political leadership is realized through Communists’ vanguard and exemplary role and through the Party’s ideological and political work.
Deng Xiaoping pointed out:
“In improving Party leadership, the most important thing is strengthening ideological and political work… Party organizations at all levels should, as far as possible, hand over a large amount of routine administrative and professional work to the government and specialized departments to undertake. Apart from grasping principles and policies and deciding on the appointment and use of important cadres, Party leading organs must free up their main time and energy to do ideological and political work, work with people, and mass work… Otherwise Party leadership cannot be improved, nor can it be strengthened.”
Deng Xiaoping, On the Reform of the System of Party and State Leadership
1980
In short, only by scientifically delineating the functions of a proletarian party and the organs of state power can the art of Party leadership be enhanced and Party leadership genuinely improved and strengthened.
Fifth Section Policy and strategy are the lifeblood of the Party and the government
I. Upholding the unity of principledness and flexibility
Lenin wrote in his biographical article on Karl Marx:
“As early as 1844–1845 Marx pointed out a basic shortcoming of the old materialism, namely, that it could not understand the conditions for practical revolutionary activity or appraise the significance of such activity. Throughout his life, while engaging in theoretical writing, he also never relaxed his attention to questions of tactics in the proletariat’s class struggle. … Marx justly considered that, without this aspect, materialism is incomplete, one-sided, and lifeless.”
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Karl Marx:A Brief Biographical Sketch With an Exposition of Marxism
For a proletarian party and the government it leads, it is extremely important to possess a complete set of scientific principles of policy and strategy and to apply them correctly in practical work. Mao Zedong pointed out:
“Policy is the starting point for all practical actions of a revolutionary party and is manifested in the entire process and final outcome of action.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ON SOME IMPORTANT PROBLEMS OF THE PARTY’S PRESENT POLICY, January 18, 1948
“For the proletariat to win victory, it must rely entirely on its party—the Communist Party—on the correctness and resoluteness of its fighting strategy.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, OPPOSE BOOK WORSHIP
May 1930
“Policy and strategy are the life of the Party.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, STRATEGY FOR THE SECOND YEAR OF THE WAR OF LIBERATION
September 1, 1947
The level of a proletarian party’s policy and strategy is a concentrated expression of the political art and the art of leadership of that particular Party and government.
The essence of Marxist principles of policy and strategy lies in the organic combination of principledness and flexibility: “The integration of the matter of principle and flexibility is a tenet of Marxism-Leninism. This is the unity of opposites.”
Lenin said that a principled policy is the only correct policy. By “principled policy” is meant the general line and overall tasks of revolution or construction that the proletariat and its party put forward over an entire stage; such policy has strategic significance—it is firm and serious and cannot be altered at will. On the other hand, as Lenin also pointed out, as the objective situation changes rapidly, in each period
“we should be able to put forward our tactics and our immediate tasks in keeping with the peculiarities of the situation at the time,”
V. I. Lenin, Letters From Afar, THIRD Letter Concerning a Proletarian Militia
and “we must ensure that our tactics display the maximum of flexibility.”
Vladimir Lenin, “Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder
Therefore, the unity of principledness and flexibility means this: in matters of principled policy one must be firm, while in tactics one may be flexible—that is, the unity of firmness in principle and flexibility in tactics.
Firmness in principle requires that when a proletarian party formulates policy and carries out revolutionary struggle, it must take dialectical materialism as its guide, safeguard the most fundamental interests of the broadest masses, and adhere to the strategic goals of the revolution. It must never sacrifice long-term interests for immediate gain, abandon revolutionary principles, or give up strategic objectives.
Flexibility in tactics requires that, on the premise of adhering to revolutionary principles, the proletarian party, in light of changes in the objective situation and the balance of forces between enemy and ourselves, and with reference to the enemy’s means and methods, employ and shift among various forms and means of struggle in a mobile and flexible way.
Just as Engels said:
“In action, to use the words of our old friend Jesus Christ, we must be as harmless as doves and as wise as serpents.”
Marx-Engels Correspondence 1867, Engels To Ludwig Kugelmann
In Hanover
In On Protracted War, Mao Zedong offered the following explanation: what the ancients called “the marvel lies in the mind of the commander” (yun yong zhi miao, cun hu yi xin)—this “marvel,” we call flexibility. Flexibility is the ability of an intelligent commander, on the basis of objective circumstances, to “judge the moment and assess the situation” (this “situation” includes the enemy situation, our situation, terrain, and so on) and to adopt timely and appropriate measures.
Mao also pointed out:
“Our principles must be firm, and we must also have all permissible and necessary flexibility in order to carry out our principles.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, REPORT TO THE SECOND PLENARY SESSION OF THE SEVENTH CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA
March 5, 1949
Lenin, too, said:
“It is necessary to combine the strictest loyalty to the ideas of Communism with the ability to make all the necessary practical compromises, manoeuvres, conciliations, zigzags, retreats and so on.”
V. I. Lenin, Forms of the Working-Class Movement[1] (The LOCKOUT and MARXIST TACTICS)
Lenin also criticized the rigid errors in practice of Kautsky, Bauer, and the leaders of the Second International:
“They are only ‘dead set’ on some particular form of the working-class movement and of socialism, forgetting that this form is one-sided. They are afraid to see the abrupt changes which are inevitable because of changes in objective conditions, and they continue to repeat simple, rote-learned truths which at first glance seem indisputable: three is more than two. But politics is more like algebra than arithmetic, and more like higher mathematics than elementary mathematics. In reality, all the old forms of the socialist movement have been filled with new content; a new sign has therefore appeared before the figures—the minus sign—yet our ‘wiseacres’ have stubbornly continued (and still continue) to assure themselves and others that ‘minus three’ is more than ‘minus two’.”
Vladimir Lenin, “Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder
Several Conclusions
Lenin’s criticism above is precisely what Engels once pointed out:
“Many people, for the sake of convenience and to avoid using their brains, want to adopt forever a tactic suited only to a particular period. In fact, our tactics are not invented out of thin air; they are formulated on the basis of constantly changing conditions.”
Adler-Engels Correspondence — M. Zetkin
The unity of principledness and flexibility is the fundamental law of Marxist principles of policy and strategy; it runs through the strategic and tactical theories of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. As Lenin put it: “Marxist tactics consist in combining the different forms of struggle, in the skilful transition from one form to another.”
II. Representing the future of the movement in the current movement
Engels later said:
“Ever since 1848, the tactics which have often brought the socialists the greatest successes have been the tactics of ‘The Communist Manifesto.’ Throughout the various stages of development through which the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie has passed, the socialists have always represented the interests of the movement as a whole. They fight for the attainment of the immediate aims and interests of the working class, but in the movement of the present they also represent the future of that movement. Hence they take an active part in every stage of development of this struggle, never for a moment forgetting that these stages are but steps leading up to the great principal aim. This aim is: the conquest of political power by the proletariat as the means of transforming society. Their place is in the ranks of the combatants fighting for every immediate achievement advantageous to the working class; but they accept all such political or economic achievements only as instalments paid on account. Therefore they regard every revolutionary or progressive movement as a step forward on their own road …”
Marx-Engels Correspondence 1894, Engels to Filippo Turati
In Milan, London, January 26, 1894
A basic component of Marxist principles of policy and strategy is to organically unify immediate goals with long-range goals, and immediate interests with fundamental interests. The Communist Manifesto contains a famous saying: “The Communists fight for the attainment of the immediate aims, for the enforcement of the momentary interests of the working class; but in the movement of the present, they also represent and take care of the future of that movement.”
This Marxist principle of policy and strategy contains two important ideas.
First, when a proletarian party strives for its grand objective, it must attach great importance to, and actively participate in, all present revolutionary struggles that benefit the proletariat: “The Party recognizes every means of struggle that the Party’s existing strength is capable of adopting, and that, under existing conditions, can enable us to obtain the greatest results.”
Second, when a proletarian party participates in present struggles, it must never forget the grand revolutionary objective: “We must never look only at the one-sided, immediate welfare before our eyes and forget the long-range interests of the working class.”
If one does not participate in present struggles, then achieving the grand objective becomes empty talk; conversely, if one abandons the grand objective, present struggles will lose their direction. These two ideas converge in one point: a proletarian party must both keep the great revolutionary goal in mind and do solid, practical work in the present—linking current tasks with long-range aims.
As Mao Zedong put it:
“Today’s efforts are directed toward the great goal of the future; if we lose this great goal, we are not Communists. Yet if we slacken today’s efforts, we are not Communists either.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, WIN THE MASSES IN THEIR MILLIONS FOR THE ANTI- JAPANESE NATIONAL UNITED FRONT
May 7, 1937
This principle of policy and strategy applies not only to proletarian parties but equally to socialist people’s governments. “Representing the future of the movement in the current movement” embodies the dialectical unity between political strategy and political tactics. Lenin held that this is a basic Marxist principle “on the tactics of political struggle.”
III. Using revolution’s “two hands” to oppose counter-revolution’s “two hands”
To clarify the relationship between political objectives and political means, and to understand the distinctions and connections between the content and the forms of revolutionary struggle, is another basic requirement of Marxist principles of policy and tactics.
Lenin pointed out:
“What basic requirements should every Marxist pose when examining the question of forms of struggle?
First, Marxism differs from all primitive forms of socialism in that it does not restrict the movement to any one particular form of struggle. It recognizes the most varied forms of struggle, and it does not ‘invent’ them out of thin air; it merely generalizes, organizes, and gives conscious expression to those forms of struggle of the revolutionary classes which arise spontaneously in the course of the movement…. Therefore, Marxism categorically does not reject any form of struggle.”
“Second, Marxism requires that we examine the question of forms of struggle from a historical standpoint…. At different stages of economic development, because political conditions, national culture, customs, and so on are not the same, different forms of struggle inevitably come to the fore, becoming the principal forms of struggle, while secondary and auxiliary forms of struggle change accordingly.”
“Right-wing doctrinairism stubbornly recognizes only the old forms and ignores the new content, and as a result it has gone completely bankrupt. Left-wing doctrinairism, on the other hand, stubbornly and absolutely negates certain old forms; it cannot see that new content is opening up paths for itself through the most diverse forms. It does not understand that the responsibility of us Communists is to master all forms, to learn as fast as possible how one form can supplement another, how one form can replace another, and how to adapt our tactics to any changes in forms that are brought about not by our class or our efforts, but by objective conditions.”
V. I. Lenin, Guerrilla Warfare from Proletary, No. 5, September 30, 1906.
For a proletarian party to realize its political objectives and tasks, it must respond to changes in the objective situation and to the various tricks by which hostile forces deal with the revolution; it must flexibly formulate its own policies and tactics and employ a wide variety of forms and means of struggle.
As Engels put it:
“For me, as a revolutionary, every means that leads to the goal is useful, whether it is the most coercive or seems the mildest.” And: “In my view, for every country the best strategy is the one that achieves the goal in the quickest and surest way.”
Marx-Engels Correspondence 1889, Engels To Gerson Trier
In Copenhagen
London, 18 December 1889 [Draft]
Of course, means must be subordinate to ends, and form must be subordinate to content; the relationship between the two has to be made clear.
Marx vividly remarked:
“In politics, for a given purpose, one may even enter into an alliance with the devil—provided one is sure that one is leading the devil, and not the devil leading one.”
Kossuth, Mazzini, and Louis Napoleon, published in the New York Daily Tribune,
Reproduced from the newspaper No. 3627, December 1, 1852
Applied to real struggle, these principles mean confronting the enemy head-on: using revolution’s “two hands” to oppose counter-revolution’s “two hands.” In order to eliminate revolutionary forces and maintain its own rule, reactionary power will constantly shift its tactics toward revolutionary forces.
Lenin pointed out:
“All oppressing classes, to maintain their domination, need two social functions: one as executioner and the other as priest.”
V. I. Lenin, The Collapse of the Second International
That is, reactionary forces possess two counter-revolutionary “hands”: armed repression and political deception. In response, the proletariat must likewise confront them head-on—using revolution’s “two hands” to oppose counter-revolution’s “two hands”—just as Lenin used the metaphor: “If you live among wolves, you must learn to howl.”
In leading the Chinese revolution, Mao Zedong consistently met the enemy with sharp, flexible countermeasures: civilian measures answered with civilian measures, military measures with military measures—an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; fight with fight, negotiate with negotiation; negotiate to cover fighting, and fight to support negotiating. In this way he creatively developed concrete forms of Marxist policy and tactical means: in political struggle, the principle of being justified, advantageous, and restrained; in military affairs, the principles of victory, self-defense, and ceasefire; leaving room for maneuver, stopping at the appropriate point, and—if one fights, then one must win.
In the struggle against the enemy, a proletarian party must not only be good at organizing offensives; it must also be good at organizing maneuvering withdrawals and retreats, and at making temporary compromises and concessions. “Left” opportunists oppose any compromise whatsoever.
Lenin criticized this, saying:
“To accept battle when it is clearly advantageous to the enemy and disadvantageous to oneself is a crime; and a politician of a revolutionary class who is unable to practice ‘maneuvering, flexibility, and compromise’ in order to avoid a clearly disadvantageous battle is a useless person.”
Vladimir Lenin, “Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder
No Compromises?
Lenin also distinguished between two kinds of compromise in nature:
one is “a compromise forced by objective conditions, a compromise that in no way weakens the workers who make it in their loyalty to revolution and their determination to continue the struggle”;
the other is “the compromise of traitors, who push everything onto ‘objective causes’ when in fact they are seeking private gain and shrinking back in cowardice.”
The compromises advocated by Marxism are, of course, revolutionary compromises, and never traitors’ compromises. A revolutionary compromise means: for the fundamental purpose of the revolution, and on the condition that one does not violate the people’s fundamental interests, making certain necessary concessions to the enemy in order to prepare future offensives and strike the enemy more effectively.
IV. Despise the enemy strategically, take the enemy seriously tactically
Marxist principles of policy and strategy require not only the organic unification of principle and flexibility, immediate interests and long-term interests, ends and means; they also require the organic unification of political romanticism and political realism, and the correct handling of questions of strategy and tactics.
If a proletarian party is to strike the enemy effectively and win revolutionary victory, it must correctly assess the forces of revolution and the forces of counterrevolution, and on that basis establish its own strategic and tactical thinking. More than a century ago, when capitalism was still in its ascending phase, Marx and Engels, with fearless revolutionary spirit, announced to the whole world that the bourgeoisie’s downfall and the proletariat’s victory are equally inevitable, and they cried out:
“Let the ruling classes tremble before a communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose in this revolution but their chains. They have a whole world to win.”
Marx/Engels, The Communist Manifesto, Chapter IV. Position of the Communists in Relation to the Various Existing Opposition Parties
At the same time, Marx and Engels earnestly warned the proletariat that the communist cause is a great undertaking of extreme difficulty and complexity; it cannot be achieved easily or within a short time, and one must pay attention to the art of struggle. Lenin, in the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution, compared the British, French, and American imperialisms that then dominated the world to a “colossus with feet of clay” and a “scarecrow,” while also stressing that imperialism is dying capitalism, but has not yet died. Therefore, Lenin held that in great revolutionary struggle one should combine the greatest enthusiasm with the calmest and clearest appraisal.
In China’s revolution and the long struggle against international imperialism, Mao Zedong inherited and developed the Marxist spirit of romanticism and realism, and creatively proposed and demonstrated the complete strategic–tactical concept:
“strategically we must despise the enemy; tactically we must take the enemy seriously.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ALL REACTIONARIES ARE PAPER TIGERS
November 18, 1957
Mao Zedong said:
“In order to struggle against the enemy, over a long period we formed a concept, namely, that strategically we should despise all enemies, but tactically we should take all enemies seriously.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ALL REACTIONARIES ARE PAPER TIGERS
November 18, 1957“In essence, in the long run, and from a strategic point of view, we must see imperialism and all reactionaries for what they are—paper tigers. On this basis we must build our strategic thinking. On the other hand, they are living tigers, iron tigers, real tigers; they can devour people. On this basis we must build our tactical thinking and our thinking on strategy and tactics.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, On The Question Of Whether Imperialism And All Reactionaries Are Real Tigers
December 1, 1958
To “despise the enemy strategically” means that, viewed as a whole and over the long term, all reactionary forces are doomed to perish—this is determined by the objective laws of social development. Therefore revolutionaries must “take ten on with one,” dare to struggle, and dare to win. To “take the enemy seriously tactically” means that, viewed partially and in the short term, reactionary forces will not immediately exit the stage of history; they can still “devour people.” Therefore revolutionaries must also adopt a cautious attitude, pay attention to the art of struggle, “take one on with ten,” and be skilled in struggle and skilled in winning.
To despise the enemy strategically and to take the enemy seriously tactically form a unity of opposites: they are closely integrated and mutually dependent. If one severs the two and places one-sided emphasis on only one aspect, grave errors will follow—just as Mao put it:
“If, in the overall assessment, we overestimate the enemy’s strength and therefore do not dare to overthrow them and do not dare to win, we will commit the error of Right opportunism.
If, in every partial situation and in every concrete problem, we do not adopt a cautious attitude, do not pay attention to the art of struggle, do not concentrate our full strength in battle, and do not strive to win over all allies that should be won over … we will commit the error of ‘Left’ opportunism.”
Mao Zedong, More on the Differences Between Comrade Togliatti and Us, Peking Review, March 15, 1963, p. 8
In short, strategic disdain and tactical seriousness are the expression of a political art that unifies revolutionary romanticism and revolutionary realism. It applies not only to revolutionary struggle, but likewise to the various tasks and difficulties faced by proletarian parties and governments in periods of peaceful construction.
V. Unite all forces that can be united
Another basic content of Marxist principles of policy and strategy is that, in revolutionary struggle, the proletarian party must correctly deploy revolutionary forces, split reactionary forces, unite all forces that can be united, and form the broadest possible united front, so as to isolate and strike the principal enemy. This mainly includes the following two aspects of policy and strategy:
First, we must build a broad revolutionary united front. Marx and Engels long ago paid attention to the question of the proletarian liberation movement’s own unity and cohesion, and to the question of allies—this is also the fundamental question of the united front. In The Communist Manifesto, they advanced the view that Communists should “support every revolutionary movement against the existing social and political order of things,” and that they should “work everywhere for the union and agreement of the democratic parties of all countries,” and so on.
Marx and Engels also explicitly advanced ideas about a worker–peasant alliance, holding that in all countries where peasants make up the majority of the population, the peasants are the proletariat’s most reliable ally, and that Communists must first strive for the peasants’ support; without the peasants’ “chorus,” the proletarian revolution would turn into a “swan song.”
Lenin, in 1922, in “We Have Paid Too Much,” explicitly used the concept of the “united front,” and incisively discussed the issue of a united front within the working class, pointing out that, in order to help the worker masses grasp the “trick” of the two fronts in world economics and politics, “we adopted the tactics of the united front, and we must carry this tactic through to the end.”
Mao Zedong, in the early period of China’s revolution, raised the slogan of carrying out a great alliance of the masses to defeat the reactionaries; later he continuously developed the theory of the united front, making it one of Mao Zedong’s most important ideas on policy and strategy. He regarded the united front, armed struggle, and Party-building as the Chinese Communist Party’s “three magic weapons” for defeating the enemy in China’s revolution. On the eve of victory in the Chinese revolution, Mao Zedong, in summing up China’s revolutionary experience, said that the “united front of all revolutionary classes and all revolutionary groups” led by the Chinese Communist Party was one of the principal weapons for defeating the enemy, and he further pointed out:
“The main and basic experience the Chinese people have gained is precisely these two things: (1) domestically, arousing the masses—that is, uniting the working class, the peasant class, the urban petty bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie, and, under the leadership of the working class, forming a domestic united front … (2) internationally, allying ourselves with those nations and peoples of all countries who treat us as equals,” thereby “forming an international united front.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ON THE PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC DICTATORSHIP
In Commemoration of the Twenty-eighth Anniversary of the Communist Party of ChinaJune 30, 1949
The policy and strategy of the Marxist united front include the following main elements: first, distinguishing the enemy from ourselves—clarifying who are the revolution’s friends and who are the revolution’s enemies. This requires concrete analysis of concrete conditions, and
- “first, adopting the strategy of developing the progressive forces, winning over the middle forces, and opposing the die-hard forces”;
- second, clarifying the boundary between leadership and being led, between the vanguard and the allied forces, and upholding the leading position of the proletariat and its party within the united front;
- third, within the united front, distinguishing an alliance with working people from an alliance with non-working people, and taking the worker–peasant alliance as the foundation. Toward the bourgeoisie one must both unite and struggle, “integrating the two aspects—unity and struggle—into a single policy.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ON POLICY, December 25, 1940, [This inner-Party directive was written by Comrade Mao Tse-tung on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.]
Second, we must make use of contradictions, win over the many, oppose the few, and crush the enemy one by one. The idea of making use of contradictions, winning allies, and isolating and striking the principal enemy to the maximum extent was already put forward by Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto. They held that Communists should, according to the conditions of different countries, effectively make use of contradictions between the bourgeoisie and feudal forces, as well as among different bourgeois factions, in order to oppose a common enemy. In examining Germany’s feudal-autocratic revolution, they believed that Communists could join with the bourgeoisie “to fight the reactionary forces of absolute monarchy.”
Lenin paid particular attention to the political strategy of using contradictions to split and disintegrate the enemy. In a famous essay he wrote:
“To vanquish a more powerful enemy, we must exert the utmost effort, and we must also necessarily, most thoroughly, carefully, attentively, and skilfully take advantage of every, even the smallest, ‘rift’ among the enemies, of every conflict of interests among the bourgeoisie of the various countries and among the various groups or types of bourgeoisie within the various countries, and also take advantage of every, even the smallest, opportunity of winning a mass ally, even though this ally is temporary, vacillating, unstable, unreliable and conditional.
Whoever has not understood this does not understand a particle of Marxism,”
Vladimir Lenin, “Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder
No Compromises?
and he further pointed out: “Everything said above applies equally to the period before and after the proletariat has won political power.” Mao Zedong developed the foregoing ideas of Marx and Lenin and summed them up in the sixteen-character strategic guideline: “Make use of contradictions, win over the many, oppose the few, and crush them one by one.” [“利用矛盾,争取多数,反对少数,各个击破”]
[Translator’s Note: For more on this topic see J.D. Armstrong THE UNITED FRONT DOCTRINE AND
CHINA’S FOREIGN POLICY . A Chinese translation of a J.D. Armstrong article appeared on the Mao Zedong Research section of the website of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Party History and Archival Research website as 毛澤東的統一戰線學說 [Mao Zedong’s United Front Theory]. Here is a link to a Google Translate machine translation of that article.]
To make use of contradictions primarily means making use of contradictions among the enemy. As Mao Zedong put it, the
“…particularly interesting example of a fight between large and small dogs, between well-fed and ill-fed dogs. It is not a big rift, but neither is it small; it is at once an irritating and painful contradiction. But such fights, such rifts, such contradictions are of use to the revolutionary people. We must turn to good account all such fights, rifts and contradictions in the enemy camp and turn them against our present main enemy.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ON TACTICS AGAINST JAPANESE IMPERIALISM
December 27, 1935
To win over the many means to win over and unite the masses; at the same time, it also requires making use of contradictions within the enemy, in order to win over and make use of those recalcitrant forces which, for the time being, are not the principal enemy. To oppose the few means to split and disintegrate the enemy, and to oppose the extremely small number who constitute the principal enemy. Mao Zedong pointed out that the enemy can use divide and align methods to deal with the revolutionary ranks:
“The Communist Party, too, can use divide and align methods to deal with the counter-revolutionary ranks. They can lure the bad elements in our ranks to run off; of course we can also lure the ‘bad elements’ in their ranks (who are good elements for us) to come over. If we can draw more people out of their ranks, then the enemy’s ranks will shrink and ours will expand.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ON TACTICS AGAINST JAPANESE IMPERIALISM
December 27, 1935To crush them one by one means to annihilate the enemy step by step: concentrate superior forces and destroy the enemy in detail.
“War can only be fought battle by battle; the enemy can only be wiped out part by part… military books call this ‘defeating the enemy in detail’.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ALL REACTIONARIES ARE PAPER TIGERS
November 18, 1957
VI. Correctly handle two different types of contradictions
Correctly handling contradictions within socialist society is a basic policy of the proletarian party and the organs of state power. Lenin once perceived that contradictions would still exist in socialist society. In 1920, Lenin wrote “A Review of Bukharin’s The Economics of the Transition Period.”
[Translator’s Note: I didn’t find this article in English. A related Bukharin critique is found in Lenin’s March 1918 Speech Against Bukharin’s Amendment To The Resolution On The Party Programme March 8 (Evening) End note.]
Addressing Bukharin’s view that society is divided into two basic classes and that class antagonism and its manifestations are found everywhere, Lenin pointed out: “Antagonism and contradiction are by no means the same. Under socialism, antagonism disappears, but contradictions remain.” Lenin also sharply noticed that the principal content of political life in a socialist state would change; he believed politics could no longer be explained solely from the “old viewpoint” of class struggle, and that “politics should be the business of the people.”
Using the law of the unity of opposites to examine socialist society, Mao Zedong was the first to state clearly that it is necessary to correctly distinguish and handle two different types of social contradictions, and to make the correct handling of contradictions among the people the central theme of the country’s political life. Mao Zedong pointed out:
“Before us there are two types of social contradictions: those between ourselves and the enemy, and those among the people. These are two types of contradictions of a completely different nature.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ON CONTRADICTION
August 1937
He also stated clearly that the large-scale, tempestuous mass class struggles of the revolutionary period had basically ended: “There are still counter-revolutionaries, but not many.” Therefore, he treated the question of correctly handling contradictions among the people as an “overall subject,” and as the principal aspect of political life.
As for how to distinguish between the two types of contradictions, Mao Zedong held that one must first clarify who the people are and who the enemy is. He said:
“At the present stage, the period of building socialism, all classes, strata and social groups that approve of, support and participate in the cause of socialist construction fall within the category of the people; all social forces and groups that resist the socialist revolution and are hostile to, or sabotage, socialist construction are enemies of the people.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, ON THE CORRECT HANDLING OF CONTRADICTIONS AMONG THE PEOPLE
February 27, 1957
Contradictions between ourselves and the enemy are antagonistic contradictions, while contradictions among the people are contradictions on the basis of a fundamental identity of interests among the people; under certain conditions, these two types of contradictions can transform into each other.
Contraditions between the enemy and ourselves and contradictions among the people differ in nature, and therefore require different methods of resolution. For enemy–us contradictions, the method is dictatorship—namely,
“for a necessary period, not allowing them to take part in political activities, compelling them to obey the laws of the People’s Government, compelling them to engage in labour, and, through labour, remoulding them into new people.”
Mao Zedong, Be a True Revolutionary
First Published: June 23, 1950
Source: Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Volume V
For contradictions among the people, the method is democracy—discussion, criticism, persuasion, and education—rather than coercion or suppression. Mao Zedong pointed out:
“What does it mean to correctly resolve contradictions among the people? It means seeking truth from facts and the mass line. In the final analysis, it comes down to the four characters ‘mass line’.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, BEAT BACK THE ATTACKS OF THE BOURGEOIS RIGHTISTS, July 9, 1957
Mao also pointed out that the guiding principle for resolving contradictions among the people is “overall consideration and making appropriate arrangements.” [Translator’s Note: To read some of the criticisms the Party was facing at the time from students and intellectuals see 1958: Party’s “Rightist” Speech Collection Published After the Hundred Flowers Campaign End Note.]
To correctly handle contradictions among the people, in addition to using democratic methods and adopting the fundamental guiding principles of the “mass line” and “overall consideration and appropriate arrangement,” one must also implement, politically, the policy of “unity—criticism—unity”; in relations between the Communist Party and the democratic parties, the policy of “long-term coexistence and mutual supervision”; in scientific and cultural work, the policy of “letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend”; and in economic work, the policy of taking into account the interests of the state, the collective, and the individual.
第十章政治是一门科学和艺术
1920年,列宁在《共产主义运动中的“左派”幼稚病》中提出了马克思主义政治学的一条重要原理——“政治是一种科学,是一种艺术”。马克思主义认为,政治是一种社会现像,它的产生和发展不是偶然的,任意的和盲目的,而是受社会物质生产的制约,也就是说受一定的客观规律的支配。人们可以用科学的方法研究和掌握政治,找出其规律性,因此政治是一门科学。但是,政治又具有很强的实践性。现实政治生活是极其错综复杂的,政治科学只能提供政治活动的普遍规律和基本原则,而在千变万化的现实政治中,必须具体问题具体分析,机动灵活地解决政治问题。根据“时代特征”和实际情况,制定战略策略,因此政治又是一门艺术。政治作为一门科学和艺术,就意味着可以根据社会运动的客观规律来认识政治在社会经济生活中的地位和作用,把握政治活动的基本原则和方法,找出处理政治问题的基本政策和策略手段,从而实现无产阶级的政治目的。
第一节政治与经济相比占首位
一、政治是统率,是大局
唯物辩证法是马克思主义认识事物的根本方法,也是研究政治科学和艺术的根本出发点。根据辩证唯物主义的观点,政治属于建立在经济基础之上的上层建筑的范畴,它以经济为基础,但由于它居于经济基础之上,因而又具有高屋建瓴、统揽全局的作用,正如列宁所指出的:“政治是经济的集中表现,···政治同经济相比不能不占首位。”
马克思主义至少从以下几个方面阐明了政治在社会经济生活中的首要性:
第一,政治是统率。列宁在领导苏维埃社会主义革命和建设的过程中,大大丰富和发展了马克思主义的政治学说,最先阐述了政治的特殊重要作用。列宁曾在《我们的纲领》《怎么办》等一系列著作中强调了政治斗争较之经济斗争的重大意义,特别是在同托洛茨基和布哈林的论战中,明确提出了“政治同经济相比不能不占首位”的著名论断,并严肃指出:“不肯定这一点,就是忘记了马克思主义的最起码的常识。”毛泽东在半封建半殖民地的中国历史环境中,根据马克思列宁主义的基本原理,结合中国的实际进一步论述了政治的重要性,如1929年在《关于纠正党内的错误思想》中阐明了政治与军事的关系;1937年在《矛盾论》中论述了政治与经济的关系;1940年在《论持久战》中分析了政治与战争的关系。特别是在社会主义建设时期,毛泽东发展了他在革命战争时期的思想,指出了政治对于其他各项工作的统率作用,他在1958年《工作方法六十条(草案)》中强调,政治与业务,政治与军事,政治与经济,政治与技术,政治总是头,政治总是率领军事、率领经济、率领业务、率领技术的。毛泽东所强调的政治的统率作用集中表现为党的政治领导,这要通过党所制定的正确的路线、方针、政策来实现,所以他常说“党的政策是党的生命”。
第二,政治是灵魂。在马克思主义看来,思想支配行动,理论指导实践,而一定的思想理论代表着一定阶级的政治观点。无产阶级如果没有正确的政治观点,就像一个人没有思想和灵魂一样。从这个意义上说,政治就等于是灵魂,所以它才能够统率其他各项工作。列宁精辟地指出:“没有革命的理论,就不会有革命的运动。”“只有以先进理论为指南的党,才能实现先进战士的作用”。恩格斯也早就说过:“革命是政治的最高行动;谁要想革命,谁就必须也承认准备革命和教育工人进行革命的手段,即承认政治行动。”毛泽东则把政治与思想观点更加紧密地结合在一起,他在《《中国农村社会主义高潮》的按语》一文中提出“政治工作是一切经济工作的生命线”。在《关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题》中,毛泽东进一步明确指出:“没有正确的政治观点,就等于没有灵魂。”
第三,政治是大局。由于政治是统率、是灵魂,贯穿于各项工作之中,因而它就不是局部的问题,而是涉及整体和全局;反之,凡是关系到整体和全局的事情,必然也具有政治性。列宁根据苏维埃社会主义建设的实际,首先提出了“经济方面的政治”这一崭新的概念。列宁说:“现在我们主要的政治应当是:从事国家的经济建设,收获更多的粮食,供应更多的煤炭,解决更恰当地利用这些粮食和煤炭的问题,消除饥荒,这就是我们的政治。”列宁这里是把全面性工作重心与政治紧密联系起来,当无产阶级夺取政权的时候,阶级斗争就是政治的首要内容;而当进入社会主义建设时期,发展经济就是政治的主要内容,所以列宁还指出:“今后最好的政治就是少谈政治。”这里两个“政治”的内涵显然是不同的,前者指的是“经济方面的政治”,后者则是过去开展的阶级斗争的政治。因此,政治在不同时空条件下其内容是不同的,但它所涉及的必然是最核心、最重大的事情。邓小平进一步发展了马克思列宁主义的思想,他不仅根据工作重心的转移提出“社会主义现代化建设是我们当前最大的政治,因为它代表着人民的最大的利益、最根本的利益”,而且把政治明确看作是“国内外阶级斗争的大局,是中国人民和世界人民在现实斗争中的根本利害”总之,无论经济、文化、教育,只要涉及“大局”,就是政治。
二、政治和经济是交互作用的力量
政治是统率、是灵魂、是大局,这一切都说明了政治在社会经济生活中的首要性。要深刻认识政治的首要性,关键是要弄清政治与经济的关系。
马克思和恩格斯出于创立唯物史观的需要,最开始都是从经济的角度来把握政治的。1845—1846年,马克思和恩格斯在《德意志意识形态》一书中说:“事情是这样的:以一定的方式进行生产活动的一定的个人,发生一定的社会关系和政治关系。经验的考察在任何情况下都应当根据经验来揭示社会结构和政治结构同生产的联系,而不应当带有任何神秘和思辨的色彩。”这里,马克思主义创始人第一次把政治同一定的生产活动方式联系起来。随后,马克思和恩格斯在《共产党宣言》、《《政治经济学批判)序言》、《社会主义从空想到科学的发展》等著作中都一再指出,一切政治变革的终极原因,应当从生产方式和交换方式的变革中、从有关时代的经济中去寻找。马克思和恩格斯由此确立了政治与经济关系的唯物主义观点:政治是从经济基础上产生的上层建筑;政治的性质是由经济性质说明的;政治变动归根到底是由经济基础决定的
马克思、恩格斯当时之所以紧扣经济来谈政治,有其历史和社会的原因。他们以前的唯心主义者都本末倒置地离开经济基础谈政治,如黑格尔等人就是把历史看成是“绝对观念”的体现。因此,马克思,恩格斯有必要从历史唯物主义观点出发,对政治作出最根本的说明,并通过揭示经济运动的规律来阐明资本主义灭亡。社会主义胜利的历史必然性,从而鼓舞无产阶级为实现自己的历史使命而斗争。这都是符合当时社会需要的科学理论
但是,马克思、恩格斯的科学观点,一开始就受到马克思主义的敌人的歪曲和攻击。如保尔·巴尔特在所著《黑格尔和包括马克思及哈特曼在内的黑格尔派的历史哲学》一书中,声称马克思把政治仅仅看成是经济的消极反映,是无所作为的。对此,恩格斯曾经予以驳斥。他说:“如果政治权力在经济上是无能为力的,那末我们又为什么要为无产阶级的政治专政而斗争呢?”但另一方面,恩格斯也坦率地承认,他和马克思“都有同样的过错”,他说:“我们最初是把重点放在从作为基础的经济事实中探求出政治观念···当时是应当这样做的。但是我们这样做的时候为了内容而忽略了形式方面。”事实上,恩格斯在此之前已经发现并注意纠正以前理论这方面的缺陷,如在1876—1878年间所著的《反杜林论》中就已指出了政治的相对独立性。特别是他在晚年进一步从辩证法的角度阐述了政治与经济的关系,特别指出了经济与政治两种力量的互动作用,他说:“这是两种不相等的力量的交互作用:一方面是经济运动,另一方面是追求尽可能多的独立性并且一经产生也就有了自己的运动的新的政治权力。总的说来,经济运动会替自己开辟道路,但是它也必定要经受它自己所造成的并具有相对独立性的政治运动的反作用。”恩格斯在谈到唯物史观的基本命题时,还评论道:“说经济因素是唯一决定性的因素,那末他就是把这个命题变成毫无内容的、抽像的、荒诞无稽的空话。”尤其值得注意的是,在论及政治与经济的关系时,恩格斯十分小心地区分了两种情况:一是从唯物史观的基本原理来看,即从论证社会发展的客观规律的角度看,历史过程中的决定性因素”归根到底”是现实生活的生产和再生产;另一是就某一具体的历史时期面言,亦即不是去揭示历史发展的“归根到底”的动因时,就不能用“主要原理”来代替各种“交互作用的因素”,正如恩格斯所言:“只要问题一关系到描述某个历史时期,即关系到实际的应用,那情况就不同了···”
列宁因其所处的时代与马克思和恩格斯不同,他面临着社会主义革命和建设的具体任务,因而他在论述政治与经济的关系时,更主要的不是从社会发展规律方面来阐述——这个理论任务已经由马克思和恩格斯完成了,而是从革命斗争和建设工作等更加实际、更加具体的实践活动方面来说明。因而,列宁往往根据无产阶级实际斗争的具体情况和需要,来阐述政治与经济的关系,从而对恩格斯晚年的思想进行了极有价值的发展。早在1899年,列宁就明确指出了政治斗争相对于经济斗争的重要性,认为“一切经济斗争都必然要变成政治斗争”,“因为经济斗争而忘掉了政治斗争,那就是背弃了全世界社会民主运动的基本原则”。在《怎么办》一文中,列宁继续阐发了这一思想,并尖锐批判了俄国经济派把历史唯物主义的基本原理与现实的具体斗争混为一谈的错误观点。当时俄国经济派曾慷慨激昂地喊道:“试问哪一个社会民主党人不知道,根据马克思和恩格斯的学说,各个阶级的经济利益在历史上起决定作用,所以无产阶级为自己的经济利益而进行的斗争对于它的阶级发展和解放斗争应当有首要的意义呢?”列宁对此驳斥说:“这所以’一词是用得完全不恰当的。从经济利益起决定作用的原理中,决不应当做出经济斗争(即工会的斗争)有首要意义的结论,因为一般说来,最重要的。有决定作用的’阶级利益只能用根本的政治改造来满足。”随着列宁领导苏维埃社会主义革命和建设实践的不断深入,列宁不断地发展他关于政治与经济关系的思想,在十月革命后,则明确得出了“政治是经济的集中表现”,“政治同经济相比不能不占首位”的结论
总之,在政治和经济的相互关系上,马克思主义从两个层面上来加以说明。其一是在论证社会发展的客观规律时的唯物史观,即经济基础决定政治,但这仅就历史发展终极的,根本的动因而言,正如恩格斯所说的:“根据唯物史观,历史过程中的决定性因索归根到底是现实生活的生产和再生产。无论马克思或我都从来没有肯定过比这更多的东西。”其二是从一特定的历史横断面来看,就无产阶级及其政党改造社会的具体实践活动而言,不仅政治与经济是交互作用的,而且政治集中体现了经济利益,因而具有首要性。这两个层面加在一起,才是完整的辩证唯物主义的观点
三、经济建设要有政治保障
弄清楚马克思主义关于政治与经济的关系的上述两个层面的内容,对于社会主义革命和建设的具体实践活动具有重大意义。尤其是在无产阶级夺取政权以后进入社会主义的经济建设时期,正确处理政治与经济的关系就具有特别重要的意义。由于马克思和恩格斯没有亲眼看到社会主义的经济建设,这一历史使命就落到了列宁身上。1920年,俄国处在“从战争过渡到经济建设的时期”,列宁曾多次强调“苏维埃政权的一般政治任务”就是进行社会主义经济建设。这一年11月3日,他在一次报告中指出:“我们走向战胜白卫分子的每一步都会使斗争的重心逐渐转向经济方面的政治。”在列宁看来,无产阶级的政治有两个主要的方面,即阶级斗争方面的政治和经济建设方面的政治,而且重心会随着形势的变化从前者转向后者。因而列宁特别强调“国家建设的政治”,“经济方面的政治”,认为政治就是生产更多的粮食和煤炭,并指出:“要是用旧观点来理解政治,就可能犯很大的严重的错误”在《关于人民委员会工作的报告》中,列宁又说:“经济任务、经济战线现在又作为最主要的任务和基本的战线提到我们面前来了”,并号召要“把全部注意力转到这种经济建设上去”,他还提出以后少谈政治就是最好的政治。
列宁上述思想发展并不是偶然的。当俄国无产阶级经过十月革命夺取政权并粉碎帝国主义的武装干涉后,形势发生了变化,无产阶级的根本经济利益集中表现在社会主义建设上,因此,列宁适时地强调经济建设方面的政治,顺应了历史发展的需要。
但是,即使在经济建设成为工作重心的时候,列宁仍没有把政治看作是可有可无的东西,而是坚持政治相对于经济的首要性。1920—1921年,列宁同托洛茨基就工会的作用和任务问题发生争论,列宁重申了政治是经济的集中表现,政治同经济相比占首位的观点。当时托洛茨基等人指责列宁是“从政治上”看问题,而他们是“从经济上”看问题的。托洛茨基还责难列宁说:“列宁同志在苏维埃第八次代表大会上,在关于我国形势的报告的结论中曾经说,我们要少搞一点政治,多搞一点经济,可是在工会问题上,他却把问题的政治方面放在第一位。”对此,列宁一针见血地驳斥说:托洛茨基同志以为这些话是“正中要害的”,实际上这些话正好说明他极其糊涂,说明他的“思想混乱”已经到了极点。“自然,我在过去,现在和将来都希望我们少搞些政治,多搞些经济。但是不难理解,要实现这种愿望,就必须不发生政治上的危险和政治上的错误”列宁还针对托洛茨基及布哈林自称他们关心的是提高生产,而列宁所关心的只是形式上的民主的言论,断然指出:“这样说是不对的,因为全部问题就在于(从马克思主义的观点来看,也只能在于):一个阶级如果不从政治上正确地处理问题,就不能维持它的统治,因而也就不能解决它的生产任务。”
列宁在俄国处在以经济建设为中心的情况下提出“政治同经济相比不能不占首位”,这并不是一个具体的观点,而是带有普遍意义的基本政治原理。无产阶级政党越是要领导人民进行经济建设,就越是要处理好政治上的问题,制定正确的政策。政治上的失误最终必然影响经济的发展,经济建设必须有政治上的保障。邓小平在中国处在以经济建设为中心时强调:“一心一意地搞四个现代化建设,必须一心一意地维护和发展安定团结,生动活泼的政治局而”。“如果没有强有力的集中领导和严格的组织纪律性,如果不大力加强稳定社会政治秩序的工作和教育,如果不坚决搞好党风,进一步恢复党的实事求是、群众路线和艰苦奋斗的优良传统,就可能出现一些本来可以避免的大大小小的乱子,使我们的现代化建设在刚刚迈出第一步的时候就遇到严重的障碍。”可见,无论在什么时候,政治问题始终都是占首位的。“如果说(或者只是间接地表达了这种思想)从政治上看问题和‘从经济上’看问题有同等的价值,二者’都可以采用,这就是忘记了马克思主义的最起码常识。”托洛茨基和布哈林正是在政治与经济的关系上持错误的,折衷主义的态度,违背了唯物辩证法的科学原理。在实际工作中辩证地处理政治与经济的关系,是政治艺术的重要体现。
第二节民主集中制作为基本原则
一、党和国家的根本组织原则是民主集中制
政治与经济相比占首位,说明了政治在社会经济生活中的地位和作用。然而政治作为一门科学和艺术,要正确把握和处理它,必须遵循一定的原则和方法。民主集中制就是马克思主义关于无产阶级政党和国家的根本组织原则。
首先,民主集中制是无产阶级政党的根本组织原则。马克思主义认为无产阶级政党不是党员数字的简单总和,也不是党的各个组织的简单联合,而是全体党员和党的各级组织按照一定的纪律组织起来的统一的有机体。按照民主集中制原则建立无产阶级政党,是马克思主义建党学说中的重要原则,也是无产阶级政党区别于其他政党的重要标志之一。
马克思和恩格斯在创建世界上第一个工人阶级政党——共产主义者同盟时,就已经提出了民主集中制的基本思想。他们当时虽然还没有明确使用民主集中制的概念,但他们始终把民主与集中相统一作为组织活动的基本原则,民主集中制的原则已有雏形。共产主义者同盟和第一国际的组织章程都规定实行自下而上的选举制和撤换制。在组织生活中马克思、恩格斯坚持所有成员一律平等,坚持少数服从多数。此外,同盟的章程还规定盟员必须在政治上和同盟保持一致,“生活方式和活动必须符合同盟的目的”,必须“服从同盟的一切决议”等,坚持集中统一的领导。列宁在建设俄国布尔什维克党的过程中,第一次明确提出了民主集中制的概念。列宁有时说党是按民主原则组织起来的,有时也说党是按照集中制组织起来的,指的都是民主集中制。列宁认为党的基层组织应真正成为党组织的细胞,所有的上层机关都应成为真正选举出来的、要汇报工作的、可以撤换的机关。同时,他又指出:“为了保证党内团结,为了保证党的工作的集中化,还需要有组织上的统一,而这种统一在一个多少超出了家庭式的小组范围的党里面,如果没有正式规定的党章,没有少数服从多数的原则,没有部分服从整体的原则,那简直是不可想像的。”列宁不仅把民主集中制载入了俄国的党章,而且还把民主集中制推广到各国共产党的建设中去,他明确规定:“加入共产国际的党,应该是按照民主集中制的原则建立起来的。“
无产阶级政党之所以要遵循民主集中制的原则,是因为无产阶级政党必须是一个统一的有组织的整体,这是由党的性质和任务决定的。党作为工人阶级的先锋队,要实现历史赋予的重任,就要集中工人阶级和广大人民群众的力量,统一行动,有组织、有领导地开展斗争。这不仅要有正确的理论、纲领、路线和政策,而且它自身还必须是一个统一的有组织的整体。无产阶级的力量就在于组织。列宁指出:“无产阶级所以能够成为而且必然会成为不可战胜的力量,就是因为它根据马克思主义原则形成的思想统一是用组织的物质统一来巩固的,这个组织把千百万劳动者团结成工人阶级的大军”。只有遵循民主集中制的原则,党才能成为一个有组织的整体。
其次,民主集中制不仅是无产阶级政党的根本组织原则,而且也是无产阶级的社会主义国家的基本组织原则。马克思主义认为,社会主义国家必须采用民主共和制。社会主义的民主共和制作为国家制度包括两方面的涵义:从国体上说,民主和专政联系在一起;从政体上说,民主和集中联系在一起,这就是要实行民主集中制的原则,即在高度民主的基础上,实行高度的集中。民主与专政的统一,民主与集中的统一,是社会主义民主共和制的基本特征。
马克思和恩格斯没有对未来社会国家的具体制度进行具体的设计,但他们提出了一个总的原则——“社会共和国”。恩格斯在1891年《爱尔福特纲领草案批判》中明确指出:“民主共和制”是适于无产阶级专政的特有形式,同时他们对资产阶级虚伪的民主和寡头政治以及无政府主义都作了无情的批判,这些为民主集中制奠定了理论基础。列宁更为具体地规定了社会主义国家机关组织和活动的方式,指出社会主义政治组织应“保证能够把议会制的长处和直接民主制的长处结合起来,就是说,把立法的职能和执行法律的职能在选出的人民代表身上结合起来。”这实际上已讲出了民主集中制的基本内容。毛泽东根据马克思主义的有关思想,完整系统地提出了民主集中制的政权理论。他在《新民主主义论》中认为,新民主主义国家的政体应当是全国人民代表大会和地方各级人民代表大会的系统,并实行普遍平等的选举制,“这种制度即是民主集中制”。后来他又进一步指出,民主集中制“是民主的,又是集中的,就是说,在民主基础上的集中,在集中指导下的民主。只有这个制度,才既能表现广泛的民主,使各级人民代表大会有高度的权力;又能集中处理国事,使各级政府能集中地处理被各级人民代表大会所委托的一切事务,并保障人民的一切必要的民主活动”。总之,根据马克思主义的政治学原理,民主集中制是社会主义国家一切国家机关组织和活动的基本原则。
二、民主基础上的集中和集中指导下的民主
民主集中制,无论它作为无产阶级政党的组织原则,还是作为社会主义国家政权的组织原则,其精髓都在于民主与集中的辩证关系。民主和集中是辩证的统一,二者相互依存,相互制约,不可分离,即是在民主基础上的集中和在集中指导下的民主。毛泽东指出:“在人民内部,民主是对集中而言,自由是对纪律而言。这些都是一个统一体的两个矛盾着的侧面,它们是矛盾的,又是统一的,我们不应当片面地强调某一个侧面面否定另一个侧面。···.这种民主和集中的统一,自由和纪律的统一,就是我们的民主集中制。”
坚持民主集中制,首先要有广泛的党内民主和人民民主,这是形成正确的集中和统一的前提与基础。马克思和恩格斯在创立无产阶级政党之初就十分注重党的民主问题,恩格斯在《关于共产主义同盟者的历史》中写道:“组织本身是完全民主的,它的各委员会由选举产生并随时可以罢免,仅这一点就已堵塞了任何要求独裁的密谋狂的道路。”列宁也对社会主义民主的广泛性给予了明确的规定,指出无产阶级民主“在世界上史无前例地发展和扩大了的正是对绝大多数居民,即对被剥削劳动者的民主”。只有充分发扬民主,才能保障正确的集中,民主愈发展,集中的基础就愈牢固,所集中的内容也愈全面、愈丰富,愈正确。正如毛泽东所说:“不充分实行无产阶级的民主制,就不可能有真正的无产阶级的集中制”,如果离开充分发扬民主,“这种集中,这种统一..只能是假的,空的、错误的。”
另一方面,民主又离不开集中,社会主义民主是有领导的民主,是集中指导下的民主。党内民主和人民民主都是在无产阶级政党的领导下实现的,都是受党纪和国家的法律约束的。如果没有党的集中统一领导,没有纪律的约束,就会出现极端自由化,也就不可能有真正的民主。马克思在论及这一问题时强调:“我们现在必须绝对保持党的纪律,否则将一事无成。”列宁也一再指出党的集中和纪律的重要性,他曾说:“无产阶级的无条件的集中制和极严格的纪律,是战胜资产阶级的基本条件之一。”只有加强党的集中统一领导,加强纪律性,才能保证社会主义民主制度的正常运行。那种否认高度集中和严格纪律的思潮,是有害的,对此,马克思主义经典作家早就给予了批判。恩格斯针对否定集中的倾向写道:“为了进行斗争,我们必须把我们的一切力量拧成一股绳,并使这些力量集中在同一个攻击点上。如果有人向我说,权威和集中在任何情况下都是两种应当加以诅咒的东西,那末我就认为,说这种话的人,不是不知道什么叫革命,就是只不过是口头上的革命家。”
总之,民主集中制是民主和集中的辩证统一和有机结合。虽然,在不同条件下,根据实际情况,在反对某种错误倾向时,需要着重强调一下民主的方面或集中的方面,但也决不能忽视或否定另一方面,而必须两者兼顾,正如毛泽东所指出的那样:“在人民内部,不可以没有自由,也不可以没有纪律;不可以没有民主,也不可以没有集中。”善于在政治实践中辩证地把握民主和集中的关系,正是政治艺术的体现
马克思主义政治学原理还告诉人们,要正确把握民主集中制的科学含义,必须划清民主集中制与官僚主义集中制和无政府主义的界限。官僚集中制是没有民主的集中制,它必然导致封建专制主义和独裁制以及资产阶级的寡头制,对此革命导师曾予以坚决否定。马克思和恩格斯在《共产党宣言》中宣告:“工人革命的第一步就是使无产阶级上升为统治阶级,争得民主。”列宁则进一步指出,资产阶级议会制是把民主同官僚制连在一起,“而无产阶级民主制度则立即采取办法根除官僚制,并且能够把这些办法实行到底,直到官僚制完全消灭,供人民享受的民主完全实现。”在无产阶级专政条件下,如果不能正确贯彻“民主基础上的集中”,也会产生官僚主义、命令主义甚至个人专断
无政府主义是没有集中的极端民主化,它背离了“集中指导下的民主”,必然导致分散主义和无秩序状况。无政府主义打着“自治”的旗号,否认任何权威,这不仅与民主集中制格格不入,而且也抹杀了人的社会性。恩格斯在批判巴枯宁时尖锐指出:“一个哪怕只由两个人组成的社会,如果每个人都不放弃一些自治权,又怎么可能存在”。恩格斯还在《论权威》中说:“一方面是一定的权威,不管它是怎样造成的,另一方面是一定的服从,这两者,不管社会组织怎样,在产品的生产和流通赖以进行的物质条件下,都是我们所必需的。”如果说官僚集中制是社会主义国家必须据弃的,那么无政府主义则是任何社会都不能接受的。总之,要坚持民主集中制,就必须防止官僚集中制和无政府主义,正如列宁所说:“我们主张民主集中制,但是必须认清,民主集中制一方面同官僚主义集中制,另一方面同无政府主义的区别是多么大。”
三、创造更高更切实的民主
民主集中制是民主与集中的辩证统一,但是在不同的历史条件下,在不同的历史时期,民主和集中的比重也会有所变化。早在反抗日本帝国主义侵略之初,毛泽东就根据当时形势的变化和斗争的需要提出了这一思想,他说:“要党有力量,依靠实行党的民主集中制去发动全党的积极性。在反动和内战时期,集中制表现得多一些。在新时期,集中制应该密切联系于民主制。用民主制的实行,发挥全党的积极性。用发挥全党的积极性,锻炼出大批的干部,肃清宗派观念的残余,团结全党像钢铁一样。”
根据马克思主义的观点,无论在社会主义革命还是在社会主义建设阶段,都不能没有民主,也不能没有集中。但总的来讲,在无产阶级夺取政权、进行社会主义革命的阶级斗争时期,集中相对更多一些;而在无产阶级取得政权以后,在社会主义的和平建设阶段,特别是在无产阶级政党的工作重心转移到经济工作和现代化建设时期,民主就应该更多一些,建设高度的社会主义民主就成为一个现实任务。资产阶级和一切社会主义的敌人,反对社会主义的一个遁词就是“社会主义消灭民主”,这实际上是对社会主义的污蔑。马克思主义虽然对资产阶级民主进行了无情批判,但这决不是说社会主义就不需要民主。革命导师早就指出,社会主义与民主是不可分离的,没有民主就没有社会主义。列宁曾说:“不实现民主,社会主义就不能实现,这包括两个意思:(1)无产阶级如果不在民主斗争中为社会主义革命做好准备,它就不能实现这个革命,(2)胜利了的社会主义如果不实行充分的民主,它就不能保持它所取得的胜利,引导人类走向国家的消亡。”社会主义不仅不能没有民主,而且社会主义民主无论在内容上还是在形式上都应当比资本主义民主更高也更真实,这就需要借鉴和扬弃人类社会的一切文明的成果。邓小平深刻地指出:“我们进行社会主义现代化建设,是要在经济上赶上发达的资本主义国家,在政治上创造比资本主义国家的民主更高更切实的民主”。并认为这是充分发挥社会主义制度的优越性的要求之一。总之,建设高度的社会主义民主,是无产阶级政党建设社会主义的基本战略目标之一。
社会主义国家要创造比资本主义国家的民主更高更切实的民主,就要正确贯彻民主集中制,完善党内民主和人民民主。根据马克思主义的有关论述,这主要包括以下几个方面:
第一,要创造一种充分发扬民主的良好政治环境。首先要活跃党内的民主生活,在党内生活中必须坚持“知无不言,言无不尽”、“言者无罪,闻者足戒”,“有则改之,无则加勉”的原则;必须实行不抓辫子,不扣帽子,不打棍子的“三不”主义。毛泽东曾说,“党内缺乏民主生活,发挥积极性的目的就不能达到”。他号召必须在党内施行有关民主生活的教育,使党员懂得什么是民主生活,什么是民主与集中的关系,从而确实扩大党内的民主生活。其次,要充分发扬人民民主,健全社会主义法制,走群众路线,克服主观主义、命令主义和官僚主义。列宁指出:“对我们来说,重要的就是普遍吸收所有的劳动者来管理国家···社会主义不是少数人——一个党所能实现的。只有千百万人学会亲自做这件事的时候,社会主义才能实现。”
第二,要坚持集体领导,反对个人专断。这要通过健全党委制来保障。毛泽东明确指出:“党委制是保证集体领导、防止个人包办的党的重要制度。”健全党委制,必须正确处理书记和委员之间的关系。这种关系是平等关系,是少数服从多数的关系,而不是上下级关系,任何人包括党的领袖都不能凌驾于党委和集体之上。当然,集体领导也要与个人分工负责有机结合在一起,“借口集体领导而无人负责是最危险的祸害”。
第三,要进行政治体制改革,完善社会主义民主的政治制度。社会主义的政治制度从本质上是优越的和民主的,但由于种种历史的和社会的因素,这种优越性还不能充分体现出来。因此,必须按照民主集中制原则不断通过改革来完善社会主义的政治制度,建设高度的社会主义民主。列宁晚年曾对苏维埃国家机构中所存在的官僚主义等弊端提出了严厉的批评,号召“在和平已经到来和免于饥饿最低需要已经得到保证的现在,全部工作都应该是为了改善机构”。邓小平也对中国政治体制中所存在的官僚主义现像,权力过分集中现像,家长制现像以及干部职务终身制等特权现像进行了批评,指出政治上充分发扬民主是社会主义制度优越性的要求,而上述种种弊端则严重妨碍了社会主义优越性的发挥,因此必须进行党和国家领导制度的改革。
总之,无产阶级政党和国家必须按照民主集中制的原则,努力建设高度的社会主义民主。如果不充分发扬人民民主和党内民主,“无产阶级专政就会转化为资产阶级专政,而且会是反动的、法西斯式的专政”。这决不是危言耸听,而是马克思主义所揭示的一个真理。
第三节群众路线是基本的领导方法
一、历史活动是群众的事业
政治作为一门科学和艺术,不仅有一定的组织原则,而且还有一定的领导方法。群众路线就是马克思主义政治学关于领导方法的最基本的原理
马克思主义认为,人民群众是历史的创造者。人类社会的存在和发展,首先需要衣、食、住等物质生活资料,人们如不能首先获得这些物质资料,就连人本身的生存都不能维持,更谈不上从事政治的、科学的和艺术的活动。人类社会赖以生存的物质生活资料,是劳动群众通过自己的劳动创造的。劳动群众的生产活动是全部社会活动的前提和基础。正因为物质生产的实践活动成为社会发展的根本动力,因而以不同形式从事和促进生产实践活动的人民群众,对社会发展起着决定作用。同时,人民群众也创造了使精神文化生活得以进行的前提条件,人民群众的社会实践是人类精神财富的源泉,因此人民群众又是精神财富的创造者。人民群众不仅是物质财富和精神财富的创造者,而且是社会变革的决定力量。在阶级社会里,生产关系的变革,社会制度的更替,都要通过广大人民群众参加的革命的阶级斗争来实现。总之,历史是人民群众创造的,人民群众才是历史的主人,正如马克思、恩格斯所说:“历史活动是群众的事业。”
既然历史活动是群众的事业,无产阶级的政治活动就应当以群众的最大利益为一切工作的出发点和最终的归宿,这就需要坚持无产阶级政党的群众路线。所谓群众路线,就是一切为了群众,一切依靠群众,从群众中来、到群众中去,密切联系群众。同广大人民群众保持最密切的联系,是无产阶级政党区别于其他任何政党的显著标志之一。党同群众的关系,就像血肉关系,如果脱离群众,失信于民,是很危险的。从这个意义上讲,党的群众路线就是党的生命线。列宁说:“劳动群众拥护我们。我们的力量就在这里。全世界共产主义运动不可战胜的根源就在这里。”“只有相信人民的人,只有投入人民生气勃勃的创造力泉源中去的人,才能获得胜利并保持政权。”
要坚持群众路线,首先要有群众观点,这是贯彻群众路线的基本前提。马克思主义的群观点主要有以下三方面
第一是一切为了群众,全心全意为人民服务的观点。无产阶级政党除了谋求最广大人民群众的利益之外,没有自己的特殊利益,对党负责和对人民负责是一致的。“共产党人的一切言论行动,必须以合乎最广大人民群众的最大利益,为广大人民群众所拥护为最高标准”。无论在任何情况下,都要维护人民群众的利益,这是无产阶级政党的宗旨。为人民服务,就要密切联系群众,倾听群众意见,关心群众生活,正像列宁所指出的:“我们需要的党应该是真正同群众有经常联系的党。”
第二是一切依靠群众,相信群众自己解放自己的观点。马克思主义和其他各种社会主义理论的不同之处,就在于它能以非常科学的冷静的态度去分析客观形势和进化的客观进程,同时又能非常坚决地承认群众的“革命毅力、革命创造力、革命首创精神的意义”。人民群众是历史发展的动力,是真正的英雄。只有坚决相信和依靠群众的大多数,无产阶级政党才能实现自己的历史使命。马克思和恩格斯最相信群众,早在创立共产国际时,他们就明确地规定了一个战斗口号:“工人阶级的解放应当是工人阶级自己的事情。”列宁也指出,苏维埃政权所以能取得胜利,“是因为苏维埃政权一开始就遵循了社会主义所固有的训条,彻底地坚决地依靠群众”。
第三是虚心向人民群众学习的观点。无产阶级政党要为人民服务,领导群众前进,就必须善于向群众学习,从中吸收智慧和力量。马克思主义认为,“千百万创造者的智慧会创造出一种比最伟大的天才预见都还要高明得多的东西”,虚心向群众学习,就可以在革命的斗争中纠正错误,提高无产阶级的领导艺术。列宁曾说过:“是的,我们犯了许多错误,但是工人们自己在创造社会主义,无论我们犯了什么错误,我们是在这个实践中学习,并为正确地干革命的艺术打下基础。”
二、政策应当从千百万群众着眼
树立正确的群众观点,是为了在实际工作中更好地贯彻群众路线,按照群众观点实行领导和制定政策。马克思主义认为,无产阶级政党要密切同人民群众的联系,领导人民群众胜利前进,最基本的问题是要保证党和国家的政策符合人民的利益。列宁指出;“群众的人数有千百万,——政策应当是从千百万人着眼,而不是从几千人着眼。只有从千百万人着眼,才会有实事求是的政策”。
马克思主义强调,无产阶级政党制定任何政策,都要以事实为基础。列宁曾反复强调:“事实是我们政策的基础”,马克思主义要求我们在确定任何重大政策的时候,必须以经得起精确的客观检验的事实作为政策的基础和依据”。那么怎样才能使政策以事实为根据呢?这就必须走群众路线。社会主义之所以伟大,是因为它是“第一次由真正的群众,由广大的大多数劳动者自己来建设新生活,用自己的经验来解决社会主义组织的最困难的问题”。因此,只有从千百万群众着眼,相信群众,依靠群众,用群众的经验和智慧来作为政策的基础,才能使政策符合实际,也才能保证政策符合人民群众的利益
那么,强调用群众的经验和智慧来制定政策,是不是忽视了无产阶级政党在制定政策中的作用呢?马克思主义向来重视无产阶级政党在政治上的领导作用,但这并不意味着党可以根据主观意志来制定政策。诚然,无产阶级政党的宗旨就是全心全意为人民服务,党和人民群众的利益在根本上是一致的,党所制定的政策是为人民谋福利的,但这是就问题的出发点而言,而不是就问题的结果而言。如果党不能从实际出发,不从千百万群众着眼,而只从决策者的主观愿望出发和理论原则出发,从少数人着眼,那么党所制定的政策就会脱离群众,脱离实际,即使主观愿望再好,也不能达到预期的结果。列宁在教育英国“左派”共产主义者时曾说,在伟大的革命斗争中,单凭情绪来领导群众是不够的;即使是对革命事业无限忠诚的人所犯的错误也会给革命事业带来危害,并告诫道:科学要求估计到一切活动着的力量、阶级和群众,而“决不能仅仅根据一个集团或一个政党的愿望和见解、觉悟程度和斗争决心来确定政策”。国际共产主义运动的实践表明,无产阶级政党有时也会从理论出发,从本本出发,犯主观主义的错误。要切实纠正这种偏差,就要坚持走群众路线。群众在政策制定过程中的作用就在于他们不是从教条出发,而是从现实出发,“群众自己的朝气蓬勃的、强大的运动会像清除毫无用处的腐败东西,把杜撰的、在办公室里想出来的方案一起消除掉”。而这正可以对决策者起到弥补不足的作用,正如列宁所指出的:“人民群众看问题时不是凭理论而是凭实际,我们的错误在于总是从理论上来看问题。”群众路线正是理论联系实际的桥梁。
总之,对于无产阶级政党来说,只有坚持群众路线,从千百万群众着眼,才可能使所制定的政策建立在事实的基础上;也只有以事实为基础的政策,才可能是真正符合人民群众利益的政策。能否正确处理这个问题,是关系到党和国家生死存亡的大事。列宁曾深刻指出:“在人民群众中,我们到底是沧海一粟,只有当我们正确地表现人民所意识到的东西时,我们才能管理。否则共产党就不能引导无产阶级,而无产阶级就不能引导群众,整个机器就要毁坏。“
三、从群众中来到群众中去是领导决策方法
要保障无产阶级政党按照群众路线制定出符合人民群众利益的政策,就要有科学的领导决策方法。毛泽东在中国革命的实践过程中,把马克思主义关于密切党和群众联系的原理和辩证唯物论的认识论运用到政治领导和决策方面,创造性地提出了“从群众中来、到群众中去”的领导决策方法。他说:“在我党的一切实际工作中,凡属正确的领导,必须是从群众中来,到群众中去。这就是说,将群众的意见(分散的无系统的意见)集中起来(经过研究,化为集中的系统的意见),又到群众中去作宣传解释,化为群众的意见,使群众坚持下去,见之于行动,并在群众行动中考验这些意见是否正确。然后再从群众中集中起来,再到群众中坚持下去。如此无限循环,一次比一次地更正确、更生动、更丰富”。“从群众中集中起来又到群众中坚持下去,以形成正确的领导意见,这是基本的领导方法”。
从群众中来、到群众中去的领导决策方法,是与马克思主义的认识论完全一致的。列宁说:“从生动的直观到抽像的思维,并从抽像的思维到实践,这就是认识真理、认识客观实在的辩证的途径”。“从群众中来”就是将群众中所感觉到的、生动的无系统的意见经过抽像思维的过程转化为集中的、系统的意见;“到群众中去”就是将经过抽像的集中的意见再带到群众中去,化为群众的实践活动。而这种从感觉到思维,从思维到实践,即从群众中来,到群众中去的过程,不是一次能够完成的。这一过程要无限循环下去,才能得到愈来愈接近客观事实的认识。正如恩格斯所指出的:“思维的至上性是在一系列非常不至上地思维着的人们中实现的;拥有无条件的真理权的那种认识是在一系列相对的谬误中实现的;二者都只有通过人类生活的无限延续才能完全实现。”
从群众中来,到群众中去,也完全符合无产阶级政党进行领导和决策的实际。列宁在领导苏维埃的过程中,曾向俄共各级组织和党员号召:“全体党员都应该尽最大的努力,争取把经过检验、经过提炼、经过总结的实际经验带到代表大会上来。如果我们能尽一切努力,善于仔细地、认真地、实事求是地收集、检验和提炼实际经验,即我们每个人所作的、所完成的和我们看到我们旁边的人所作的、所作完的事情,如果能这样,而且也只能这样,我们的党代表大会以及我们所有的苏维埃机关才能解决最迅速最稳妥地战胜经济破坏这一实际任务。”从群众中来、到群众中去的领导决策方法,同列宁上述思想中的收集实际经验、提炼和总结实际经验并在实践中进行检验的过程是一致的,也完全符合领导和决策的一般规律。从群众中来的过程就是收集、提炼和总结实际经验从而制定出正确的政策的过程,到群众中去就是将政策贯彻实施并在实际中加以检验和反馈的过程。“从群众中来,到群众中去”的领导决策方法,就如同列宁所说的:“研究实际经验,去其糟粕,取其精华。正确地确定一些当前的实际措施,并且不惜任何牺牲而坚决予以实现。”这是无产阶级政党进行领导和决策的基本方法。
从群众中来、到群众中去的工作方法,是从领导和决策上把无产阶级政党同人民群众的密切关系加以具体化和现实化,从而使群众路线具有可操作性,为正确解决党的路线、方针和政策同人民群众的实践的关系问题提供了保障,它是马克思主义政治学在领导和决策科学方面的一个基本原理。
四、防止命令主义和尾巴主义
无产阶级政党要正确贯彻群众路线,掌握好从群众中来、到群众中去的领导方法,就要在实际工作中注意防止命令主义和尾巴主义两种错误倾向。
坚持群众路线,就是要充分相信群众,依靠群众,联系群众,而不能用官僚主义和命令主义的方式对待群众,超出群众的觉悟和意愿去制定政策和开展工作。列宁指出:“群众生气勃勃的创造力是新社会的基本因素。···社会主义不是按上面的命令创立的。它和官场中的官僚机械主义根本不能相容;生气勃勃的创造性的社会主义是由人民群众自己创立的。”毛泽东在总结中国革命的经验时说:凡属正确的任务、政策和工作作风,都是和当时当地的群众要求相适合,都是联系群众的。他号召全党要教育每一个同志热爱人民群众,细心倾听群众的呼声;每到一地,就和那里的群众打成一片,不是高踞于群众之上,而是深入于群众之中;根据群众的觉悟程度去启发和提高群众的觉悟,在群众出于内心自愿的原则下帮助群众逐步地组织起来,逐步地开展为当时当地内外环境所许可的斗争。总之,无产阶级政党必须正确地表达人民群众的愿望,而不能采取命令主义的办法,否则就会脱离群众,给党的事业造成危害。正像列宁所说的:“对于领导一个大国向社会主义过渡的工人阶级先锋队来说,最大最严重的危险之一,就是脱离群众,就是先锋队跑得太远,没有拉平战线,没有同全体劳动大军,即同大多数工农群众保持牢固的联系。”
相信群众,依靠群众,联系群众,并不意味着无产阶级政党可以放弃对群众的引导和教育,跟在群众后面跑,做群众的尾巴。列宁指出:“党是阶级的先锋队,它的任务决不是反映群众的一般情绪,而是引导群众前进。”特别是在革命的关键时刻,“党的领导者也必须更广泛,更大胆地提出任务,使他们的口号始终走在群众的革命自动性的前面,成为他们的灯塔”。那种认为“群众要怎么办就怎么办”的口号是十分错误的,它忽视了党的无产阶级先锋队的作用,也违背了民主集中制的原则,实际上是对人民群众不负责任的态度。毛泽东也曾对中国共产党内存在的尾巴主义倾向进行过批评,他在晋绥干部会议上讲话时说,关于党和群众的关系问题,应当是:“凡属人民群众的正确的意见,党必须依据情况,领导群众,加以实现;而对于人民群众中发生的不正确的意见,则必须教育群众,加以改正。”可见,尾巴主义同命令主义一样,都不能正确处理党和群众的关系,都是不正确的工作方法,正如毛泽东所总结的那样:“在一切工作中,命令主义是错误的,因为它超过群众的觉悟程度,违反了群众的自愿原则,害了急性病···尾巴主义也是错误的,因为它落后于群众的觉悟程度,违反了领导群众前进一步的原则,害了慢性病”
总之,按照群众路线实施正确的领导,是一门高深的政治艺术,正像斯大林所说:“领导的艺术是一件重要的事情。不能落在运动后面,因为落在后而就是脱离群众。但是也不能跑得太远,因为跑得太远就是失掉群众而使自己孤立。谁想领导运动而同时又保持和千百万群众的联系,谁就应当进行两条战线的斗争——既反对落后的人,又反对跑得太远的人。”然而,真正的领导艺术还在于能够在不同的历史时期,根据党的工作的重心,保持与群众的密切联系并能正确引导群众前进。在这方面列宁曾做出了典范。在苏维埃政权建立初期,布尔什维克党曾把注意力集中在搞颁布和宣传法令方面。当时有人嘲笑说布尔什维克“不知道人们并不执行他们的法令”。但列宁认为那样做是对的,其结果是在人民群众中获得了高度的信任,“这是革命初期必然经过的阶段,不然我们就不会走在革命浪潮的前面,而只能跟着它的尾巴跑。”但是,随着工作重心的变化,列宁则对这种做法提出了批评,指出“注意力不应该集中在搞立法工作,颁布完善的法令等等上面”,“这个阶段已经过去了,而我们却不愿了解这一点。现在再有人靠下命令来设立和改组什么机关,工人农民就要嘲笑了。现在普通的工人农民对这点已不发生兴趣,他们是对的,因为现在的重点不在这里”。由此可见,命令主义和尾巴主义的界限并不是绝对的,而是相对的,必须根据形势的变化来具体分析和把握。正像列宁指出的:“管理和政策的全部艺术在于,适时地估计并了解应该把主要的力量和注意力集中在什么地方“
第四节划分党和国家机关的职能
一、党要善于领导就要党政分开
政治作为一种科学和艺术,反映在无产阶级政党对国家生活的领导方面,有一个加强党的领导与改善党的领导的问题,即要“解决党如何善于领导的问题”。这就需要科学地确立党和其他各种政治组织特别是与国家政权机关的关系,提高政治领导的艺术。
马克思主义认为,无产阶级政党是社会主义事业的领导核心,其使命是要领导工人阶级及其他一切组织,这是必须坚持的一条根本原则。但是党如何领导,如何与其他组织建立正确的关系,则要根据历史条件的变化而不断注意改进和完善。在无产阶级夺取政权之前和初期,主要的斗争形式是暴力革命和保护新生政权,党和其他各种组织的一切工作都必须服从革命斗争的需要,任务比较集中单一,局势变化迅速急骤,战争发展紧张激烈,从这样的客观情况和特点出发,党必须进行集中统一的领导。最早提出这一思想并付诸实践的是列宁。列宁处在帝国主义和无产阶级革命时代,他看到19世纪末叶的俄国经济派和民粹主义运动已经从实践上证明,通过“手工业的方式”不可能组成无产阶级的强大阵营;通过个别的激进分子冒险的、秘密的行动也只能是使旧政权变换几个头面人物,都不能最终达到无产阶级取得政权的目的。据此列宁提出了“新型的党”的建党思想,认为党要战胜敌人,必须改变党内的无组织、无纪律现像,形成一个拳头,组成一个坚强的战斗整体,“无产阶级在争取政权的斗争中,除了组织而外,没有别的武器”。正是在布尔什维克党的集中领导下,俄国才取得了十月革命的胜利。在革命胜利初期,年轻的苏维埃政权又面临极其严峻的考验,列宁又提出党的中央机关“必须拥有广泛的权力”。“成为一个有权威的机构”。由此苏维埃俄国又战胜了外国武装干涉,粉碎了邓尼金等的进攻。
在中国,由于新民主主义革命过程中就已经建立了革命的政权组织,因此中国共产党相对较早地注意到了党政关系问题。毛泽东在1940年谈到关于政权组织的政策时指出:“必须坚决地执行‘三三制’,共产党员在政权机关中只占三分之一,吸引广大的非党人员参加政权”,“切忌我党包办一切”。但由于当时革命战争的需要,实际上形成了党的一元化领导制度,由地方党委统一指挥当地政府和各种团体的工作。这种党的一元化领导模式总体上是符合当时斗争的特点的,也起到了积极的作用。
但是,这种革命战争时期的党的高度集中统一的领导方式一直延续了下来,以致在后来社会主义建设时期形成党政不分,以党代政的局面。这种局面由于与建设时期的情况和特点不能很好相适应,暴露出越来越多的弊端。早在1918年3月,苏维埃俄国与德国签订《布列斯特和约》以后,赢得了调整国民经济、加强国家管理、组织军事力量的时机,这时列宁就已发现由于党政不分,俄国共产党人由于执行了摆在苏维埃政权面前的“国家管理任务”,“常常被迫过分注意管理中的琐事”,并最初提出无产阶级专政必须“通过苏维埃政权”来实现这一党政分开的思想。1919年召开的俄共(布)八大,根据列宁的提议,专门作出了《关于组织问题》的决议,明确规定了党政关系的两条基本原则,即领导原则和党政分开原则。决议提出:“共产党给自己提出的任务,在劳动者的一切组织(工会、合作社、农业公社等)起决定性的影响和掌握全部领导。共产党特别力争在当前的国家组织——苏维埃中实现自己的纲领和自己的全部统治。”这就是领导原则。决议又指出:“无论如何不应当把党组织的职能和国家机关即苏维埃的职能混淆起来。···党应当通过苏维埃机关在苏维埃宪法的范围内来贯彻自己的决定。党努力领导苏维埃的工作,但不是代替苏维埃。”这就是党政分开原则。然而,要切实做到党政分开,改变党在长期革命斗争中所形成的一贯的领导方式,是十分艰巨和复杂的。直到列宁晚年,党政不分、以党代政的情况仍十分严重,而且弊端愈加明显。1922年列宁在俄共(布)中央委员会作政治报告,他说:“我应当谈谈我们苏维埃高级机关以及党同它们的关系这一问题的实际方面。在我们党同苏维埃机关之间形成了一种不正确的关系,这一点是我们一致承认的。我方才举的一个例子,说明有些具体的小事情都搬到政治局去解决了。···一切问题都从人民委员会搬到政治局来了。这里我的过错也很大,因为人民委员会和政治局,很多都是通过我个人来联系的。一旦我离开工作,两个轮子立刻都转不动了。”
在中国,革命战争年代所形成的党的一元化领导模式在新中国建立后不仅未得到应有的改变,甚至朝着更加集权的方面发展。特别是在1953年和1958年的反分散主义斗争中,提出“大权独揽,小权分散。党委决定,各方去办”的口号,并把它作为党的重要领导原则广泛地加以宣传和实行,把政府各部门和群众团体独立行使应有的职权,也当作分散主义、闹独立性加以批判,加剧了以党代政、党包揽一切工作和权力过分集中的状况。邓小平对这种情况提出了尖锐的批评,指出“我们的各级领导机关,都管了很多不该管、管不好、管不了的事”,并进一步分析说:“权力过分集中的现像,就是在加强党的一元化领导的口号下,不适当地、不加分析地把一切权力集中于党委,党委的权力又往往集中于几个书记,特别是集中于第一书记,什么事都要第一书记挂帅、拍板。党的一元化领导,往往因此而变成了个人领导。”这就是造成官僚主义现像的一个“总病根”。邓小平还提出要通过政治体制改革“解决党和政府的关系问题”。“党要善于领导,党政需要分开”。
可见,无产阶级政党在建立和巩固政权以后,党政关系就成为一个突出的问题。党在革命年代的领导方式沿袭到政权建立后,必然造成党政不分,以党代政,从而产生种种弊端,最终实际上不是加强党的领导,而是削弱党的领导。因此,在社会主义的和平建设时期,应当理顺党和国家机关的关系,实行党政分开
二、明确划分党和国家政权的职能
正确处理党和国家政权机关的关系,改变党政不分、以党代政的状况,关键是要科学地、明确地划分党和国家机关的职能。列宁指出:“必须十分明确划分党(及其中央)和苏维埃政权的职权···党的任务是对所有国家机关进行总的领导,而不是像目前那样进行过分频繁的、不正常的、往往是对细节的干涉。”
马克思主义认为,政党和国家机关都是建立在一定的经济基础之上并为之服务的上层建筑。在社会主义社会里,党和国家机关都是无产阶级专政的工具,是为人民服务的“社会公仆”;总的目标都是建设社会主义和实现共产主义;根本任务都是要发展社会生产力,建设高度的社会主义物质文明和精神文明。因此,从总体上说,它们是不应该也不可能绝对割裂的。然面,“党是政权的核心,但它和国家政权不是而且不能是一个东西。”从理论上讲,政党和国家政权的性质、组织形式和工作方式都不同,这是对党和国家政权机关的职能进行科学划分的条件和依据。
无产阶级政党是无产阶级的先锋队,是“无产阶级联合的最高形式”。因此它能代表本阶级及广大劳动人民的最高利益去实行对国家生活的总的领导,这是其他任何组织所不能替代的。但党毕竟是“一个自觉的阶级政党”,不是社会的公共权威,这与国家政权不同。从形式上说,国家是“整个社会的正式代表,是社会在一个有形的组织中的集中表现”,虽然这并不能掩盖其阶级内容。所以国家与政党不同,它可以对整个社会进行直接的干预和管理,正像列宁所说:“国家就是从人类社会中分化出来的管理机构”,它“专门从事管理”。而政党作为一个阶级的组织,它只能对国家进行总的领导,而不是直接管理国家事务,也不能执行行政职能,因为“行政是国家的组织活动”。毛泽东早在领导井冈山革命根据地时,就对党由于许多事情图省便而“直接做了,把政权机关搁置一边”的现像提出过批评,并指出“以后党要执行领导政府的任务;党的主张办法,除宣传外,执行的时候必须通过政府的组织”。邓小平后来也提出:“党委不要设经济管理部门,那些部门的工作应该由政府去管”,“党要管党内纪律的问题,法律范围的问题应该由国家和政府管”,他还谆谆告诫:“党要善于领导,不能干预太多”
由此可见,党和国家政权机关的职能是不同的。国家机关不仅有政治职能,还有社会管理和行政管理的职能,要管理国家事务,管理经济、文化和社会生活。政党则是对国家进行总的领导,这个总的领导,不是直接管理国家事务和进行具体的行政干预,而是实行政治领导,包括确定路线、方针、政策和对政府进行领导。这就是马克思主义政治学关于划分党和国家机关职能的一般原理
划分党和国家机关的职能,实行党政分开,其目的是为了改善党的领导和加强党的领导,正像邓小平所指出的:“改革党和国家的领导制度,不是要削弱党的领导,涣散党的纪律,而正是为了坚持和加强党的领导”。所谓加强党的领导,并不是党管的事越多越细,党的领导就越得到加强。实际上,党陷入日常行政事务,直接包揽被领导者的事情,不仅无法集中精力研究大政方针,而且也不可能把事情办好,反而把自己降到了被领导的地位,正像列宁批评当时一些党的领导干部那样,“到处发号施令,结果完全事与愿违”,“他们以为自己在领导,其实是被领导”。可见,党政不分,以党代政实际上降低了党的领导地位,削弱了党的领导作用。
相反,科学划分党和国家机关的职能,实行党政分开,则可以起到调动政府工作积极性、提高工作效率的作用。列宁早就提出要划分党和苏维埃政权的职权,“提高苏维埃工作人员和苏维埃机关的责任心和主动性。”邓小平指出工作效率不高“更主要的是涉及党政不分,在很多事情上党代替了政府工作,党和政府很多机构重复”。实行党政分开,党不再卷人行政事务,让政府在自己的职权范围内独立开展工作,则可以提高工作效率,克服官僚主义。而政府工作搞好了,党的领导才能真正得到加强,正如邓小平所阐述的:“政府工作当然是在党的政治领导下进行的,政府工作加强了,党的领导也加强了。”
划分党和国家政权的职能,实行党政分开,还可以使党集中精力搞好党自身的工作和党的建设。党的政治领导要靠共产党员的先锋模范作用和党的思想政治工作来实现。邓小平指出:“改善党的领导,其中最主要的,就是加强思想政治工作···各级党组织应该把大量日常行政工作、业务工作,尽可能交给政府、业务部门承担,党的领导机关除了掌握方针政策和决定重要干部的使用以外,要腾出主要的时间和精力来做思想政治工作,做人的工作,做群众工作···否则党的领导既不可能改善,也不可能加强。”总之,只有科学划分无产阶级政党同国家政权机关的职能,才能提高党的领导艺术,真正地改善和加强党的领导
第五节政策和策略是党和政府的生命
一、坚持原则性和灵活性的统一
列宁在《卡尔·马克思》中写道:“马克思在1844—1845年就阐明了旧唯物主义的一个基本缺点在于不能了解革命实际活动的条件和评价革命实际活动的意义,他毕生除了从事理论写作外,还毫不松懈地注意着无产阶级阶级斗争的策略问题。···马克思公正地认为唯物主义缺少这一方面就是不彻底的、片面的和毫无生气的唯物主义。”对于无产阶级政党及其领导的政府而言,具有一整套科学的政策和策略原理并在实际工作中加以正确运用,是极为重要的。毛泽东指出:“政策是革命政党一切实际行动的出发点,并且表现于行动的过程和归宿”。“无产阶级要取得胜利,就完全要靠他的政党——共产党的斗争策略的正确和坚决”。“政策和策略是党的生命”。无产阶级的政策和策略水平,是党和政府政治艺术和领导艺术的集中体现。
马克思主义政策和策略原理的精髓,就是原则性和灵活性的有机结合,“原则性和灵活性的统一,是马克思列宁主义的原则,这是一种对立面的统一”。列宁说,原则的政策是惟一正确的政策。所谓原则的政策,就是无产阶级及其政党在某一整个阶段内提出的革命或建设的总路线和总任务,这种政策具有战略意义,是坚定的和严肃的,不能随意变动。另一方面,也正如列宁所指出的那样,随着客观形势的急速变化,在每一时期“我们应当善于根据当时形势的特点提出自己的策略和当前的任务”,“必须使自己的策略具有最大的灵活性”。因此,原则性和灵活性的统一意味着,在原则的政策上,必须是坚定的,而在策略上,则可以是灵活的,亦即原则的坚定性和策略的灵活性的统一。
原则的坚定性,就是要求无产阶级政党在制定政策和进行革命斗争时,必须以辩证唯物主义为指导,维护最广大人民的最根本利益,坚持革命的战略目标,绝不能为了眼前利益而牺牲长远利益,丧失革命原则,放弃战略目标;策略的灵活性,就是要求无产阶级政党在坚持革命原则的前提下,根据客观形势的变化,敌我力量的对比,针对敌人的手段和方法,机动灵活地运用和变换各种斗争形式和手段,正像恩格斯所说的:“我们在行动时,用我们的老朋友耶稣基督的话来说,要像鸽子一样驯良,像蛇一样灵巧。”毛泽东在《论持久战》中做过这样的解释:古人所谓“运用之妙,存乎一心”,这个“妙”,我们叫做灵活性。灵活,是聪明的指挥员,基于客观情况,“审时度势”(这个势,包括敌势、我势、地势等项)而采取及时的和恰当的处置方法的一种才能。毛泽东还曾指出:“我们的原则性必须是坚定的,我们也要有为了实现原则性的一切许可的和必需的灵活性。”列宁也曾说过:“应当把对共产主义思想的无限忠诚同善于在实践中进行一切必要的妥协、机动、通融、迁回、退却等等的才干结合起来。”他还对考茨基、鲍威尔以及第二国际的领袖在实践中的僵化错误提出了批评:“他们只是‘死盯着”工人运动和社会主义发展的某一形式,而忘记了这个形式的片面性,他们害怕看到由于客观条件的改变而必然发生的急剧变化,而继续重复那种简单的、背熟了的、初看起来是不容争辩的真理:三大于二。然而政治与其说像算术,不如说像代数,与其说像初等数学,不如说像高等数学。实际上,社会主义运动的一切旧形式都已充满了新内容,因此在数字面前,出现了一个新符号即‘负号’,可是我们的聪明角色过去一直(现在还在)固执地向自己和别人担保说,负三’大于‘负二’”列宁的上述批评正像恩格斯曾经指出的那样:“许多人为了图省事,为了不费脑筋,想永久地采用一种只适宜于某一个时期的策略。其实,我们的策略不是凭空臆造的,而是根据经常变化的条件制定的。“原则性和灵活性的统一是马克思主义政策和策略原理的根本法则,贯穿于马克思列宁主义和毛泽东思想的战略策略理论之中,正如列宁所说:“马克思主义的策略,就在于把各种不同的斗争方法结合起来,巧妙地从一个方法过渡到另一个方法。”
二、在当前的运动中代表运动的未来
马克思主义政策和策略原理的一个基本内容,就是把最近目标与长远目标、眼前利益与根本利益有机统一起来。《共产党宣言》中有一句名言:“共产党人为工人阶级的最近的目的和利益而斗争,但是他们在当前的运动中同时代表运动的未来”。恩格斯后来说:“自从1848年以来,时常为社会主义者带来极大成就的策略就是‘共产主义宣言’的策略。在无产阶级和资产阶级斗争所经历的各个发展阶段上,社会主义者始终代表整个运动的利益,他们为工人阶级的最近目的和利益斗争,但是他们在当前的运动中同时代表运动的未来。因此他们积极参加斗争的每个发展阶段,而且一时一刻也不忘记,这些阶段只不过是导致主要的伟大目标的阶梯。这个目的就是:由无产阶级夺取政权作为改造社会的手段。他们的位置是在为每一个有利于工人阶级的直接成就而斗争的战士的行列中;但是所有这些政治的或经济的成就,他们只是当做‘分期偿付的债款’来接受。因此他们把每一个革命的或者进步的运动看做是他们自己道路上前进的一步··
马克思主义的这一政策和策略原理包含着两层重要思想:是无产阶级政党在为远大目标而奋斗时,必须高度重视和积极参加当前一切有利于无产阶级的革命斗争,“凡是党的现有力量能够采取并且在现有条件下能够使我们得到最大成绩的一切斗争手段,党都是承认的”。二是无产阶级政党在参加当前斗争时,决不能忘记革命的远大目标,“决不可只看到眼前的片面的福利而忘记了工人阶级的远大利益”。如果不参加当前的斗争,实现远大目标就是一句空话;反之,放弃远大目标,当前的斗争就会迷失方向。这两层思想集中到一点,就是无产阶级政党既要胸怀革命大目标,又要脚踏实地搞好当前的工作和斗争,把当前的任务和远大目标结合起来。正如毛泽东所说:“现在的努力是朝着将来的大目标的,失掉这个大目标,就不是共产党员了。然而放松今日的努力,也就不是共产党员。”这一政策和策略原理不仅对无产阶级政党适用,对社会主义的人民政府也同样适用。“在当前的运动中同时代表运动的未来”,体现了政治战略与政治策略的辩证统一关系,列宁认为,这是马克思主义所提出的“关于政治斗争策略”的一个基本原理。
三、以革命的两手反对反革命的两手
辨明政治目的和政治手段的相互关系,认识革命斗争的内容和形式的区别与联系,是马克思主义政策和策略原理的另一个基本要求。列宁指出:“每个马克思主义者对于考察斗争形式问题,应当提出些什么基本要求呢?第一,马克思主义同一切原始形式的社会主义不同,它不把运动限于某一种斗争形式。它承认各种各样的斗争形式,并且不是‘凭空想出’这些形式,只是对运动进程中自然发生的革命阶级的斗争形式加以综合、组织,并使其带有自觉性。···因此,马克思主义决不拒绝任何一种斗争形式”。“第二,马克思主义要求我们一定要用历史的态度来考察斗争形式问题。···在经济进化的各个不同时期,由于政治、民族文化、风俗习惯等等条件各不相同,也就不免有各种不同的斗争形式提到第一位,成为主要的斗争形式,而各种次要的附带的斗争形式,也就随之发生变化。”“右倾学理主义固执地只承认旧形式,而忽视新内容,结果彻底破产了。左倾学理主义则固执地绝对否定某些旧形式,看不见新内容正在通过各种各样的形式为自己开辟道路,不知道我们共产党人的责任,就是要掌握一切形式,学会以最快的速度,用一种形式去补充另一种形式,用一种形式去代替另一种形式,使我们的策略适应不是由于我们的阶级或我们的努力所引起的任何形式的变更。”
无产阶级政党要实现自己的政治目的和任务,必须针对客观形势的变化和敌对力量对付革命的种种伎俩,灵活制定自己的政策和策略,运用各种各样的斗争形式和手段。正如恩格斯所说:“对于作为革命者的我来说,一切可以达到目的的手段都是有用的,不论是最强制的,或者是看起来最温和的”。“对每一个国家来说,能最快、最有把握地实现目标的策略,就是最好的策略”。当然,手段服从于目的,形式服从于内容,二者的关系必须弄清。马克思曾生动地指出:“在政治上为了一定的目的,甚至可以同魔鬼结成联盟,只是必须肯定,是你领着魔鬼走而不是魔鬼领着你走。”
上述原理运用到实际斗争中,就要在对敌斗争中针锋相对,以革命的两手反对反革命的两手。反动势力为达到消灭革命力量和维持自己统治的目的,会不断变换对待革命力量的策略。列宁指出:“所有一切压迫阶级,为了维持自己的统治,都需要有两种社会职能:一种是刽子手的职能,另一种是牧师的职能。”这就是说反动势力具有武力镇压和政治欺骗的反革命两手。对此,无产阶级必须针锋相对,以革命的两手反对反革命的两手,正像列宁所比喻的:“和狼在一起,就要学狼叫。”毛泽东在领导中国革命的斗争中,对待敌人都是针锋相对,机动灵活,文来文去,武来武去,以眼还眼,以牙还牙,以打对打,以谈对谈,以谈掩护打,以打支持谈,创造性地发展了马克思主义政策和策略手段的具体形式,如政治斗争的有理、有利、有节原则,军事上的胜利原则、自卫原则、休战原则,留有余地,适可而止,不斗则已,斗则必胜。
在对敌斗争中,无产阶级政党不仅要善于组织进攻,而且要善于组织迁回和退却,作出暂时的妥协和让步。左倾机会主义者一概反对任何妥协,对此列宁曾批判说:“当应战显然对敌人有利而对自己不利的时候,却去应战,那就是犯罪;革命阶级的政治家不善于实行‘机动、通融、妥协’,以避免显然不利的战役,那就是毫无用处的人。”列宁还区分了两种性质的妥协:一种是“为客观条件所迫而作的妥协,这种妥协丝毫不会使实行这种妥协的工人削弱对革命的忠诚和继续斗争的决心”;另一种是“叛徒的妥协,他们把一切推到客观原因上,而实际上却是贪图私利,怯懦畏缩”。马克思主义所主张的妥协,当然是革命的妥协,而决不是叛徒的妥协。革命的妥协,就是为了革命的根本目的,在不违背人民根本利益的条件下,对于敌人作一些必要的让步,为的是准备未来的进攻,更好地打击敌人。
四、战略上藐视敌人,战术上重视敌人
马克思主义的政策和策略原理不仅要求把原则性与灵活性当前利益与长远利益,目的与手段有机地统一起来,而且也要求把政治浪漫主义和政治现实主义有机地统一起来,正确处理战略和战术问题
无产阶级政党要想有效地打击敌人,夺取革命的胜利,就必须正确地估计革命力量和反动力量,并在此基础上确立自己的战略和策略思想。早在一百多年前,资本主义还处在上升时期,马克思和恩格斯就以大无畏的革命精神向全世界宣布:资产阶级的灭亡和无产阶级的胜利是同样不可避免的,并呐喊:“让统治阶级在共产主义革命面前发抖吧。无产阶级在这个革命中失去的只是锁链。他们获得的将是整个世界。”与此同时,马克思、恩格斯又谆谆告诫无产阶级,共产主义事业是极其艰巨复杂的伟大事业,它不是轻而易举地和在短时间内可以实现的,必须讲究斗争艺术。处在帝国主义和无产阶级革命时代的列宁,把当时称霸世界的英,法、美帝国主义比作“泥足巨人”和“稻草人”,同时又强调指出,帝国主义是垂死的但还没有死亡的资本主义。因此列宁认为在伟大的革命斗争中,应当把最大的热情和最冷静最清醒的估计结合起来。毛泽东在中国革命和反对国际帝国主义的长期斗争中,继承和发扬了马克思主义的浪漫主义和现实主义的精神,创造性地提出并论证了“在战略上要藐视敌人,在战术上要重视敌人”的战略战术思想的完整概念。
毛泽东说:“为了同敌人作斗争,我们在一个长时间内形成了一个概念,就是说,在战略上我们要视一切敌人,在战术上要重视一切敌人”。“从本质上看,从长期上看,从战略上看,必须如实地把帝国主义和一切反动派,都看成纸老虎。从这点上,建立我们的战略思想。另一方面,它们又是活的铁的真的老虎,它们会吃人的。从这点上看,建立我们的策略思想和战术思想。”所谓战略上藐视敌人,就是从全面上、长期上看,一切反动势力都是注定要灭亡的,这是由人类社会发展的客观规律决定的,因此革命者要“以一当十”,敢于斗争,敢于胜利;所谓战术上重视敌人,就是从局部上、短期上看,反动势力还不会马上退出历史舞台,还会“吃人”,因此革命者又要采取谨慎态度,讲究斗争艺术,“以十当一”,善于斗争,善于胜利。
在战略上藐视敌人和在战术上重视敌人,两者是对立的统一是密切结合、相互依存的。如果把两者割裂开来,片面注重某一方面,就要犯极大的错误,正如毛泽东所讲的:“如果我们在全体上过高估计敌人力量,因而不敢推翻他们,不敢胜利,我们就要犯右倾机会主义错误。如果我们在每一个局部上,在每一个具体问题上,不采取谨慎态度,不讲究斗争艺术,不集中全力作战,不注意争取一切应当争取的同盟者···我们就要犯‘左’倾机会主义错误。”总之,战略上藐视和战术上重视,是革命浪漫主义和革命现实主义相统一的政治艺术的体现,它不仅适用于革命斗争,而且对于无产阶级政党和政府在和平建设时期所面临的各种任务和困难,同样也是适用的。
五、团结一切可以团结的力量
马克思主义政策和策略原理的又一个基本内容,是无产阶级政党在革命斗争中要正确布置革命力量,分化反动力量,团结一切可以团结的力量,结成最广泛的统一战线,孤立和打击最主要的敌人。这主要包括以下两方面的政策和策略:
第一,要建立广泛的革命统一战线。马克思和恩格斯早就注意到了无产阶级解放运动中的自身团结统一和同盟军的问题,这也是统一战线的根本问题。在《共产党宣言》中,他们就提出共产党要“支持一切反对现存的社会制度和政治制度的革命运动”的观点,要“努力争取全世界的民主政党之间的团结和协议”的观点等。马克思和恩格斯还明确提出了有关工农联盟的思想,认为在一切农民占人口多数的国家中,农民是无产阶级最可靠的同盟者,共产党人首先要争取农民的支持;如果没有农民的“合唱”无产阶级革命就会变成“孤鸿哀鸣”。列宁1922年在《我们付出的代价太大了》一文中,明确使用了“统一战线”这个概念,并精辟地论述了工人阶级内部的统一战线问题,指出为了帮助工人群众了解世界经济和政治方面的两条战线的“妙诀”,“我们采取了统一战线的策略,并且要把这种策略贯彻到底”。毛泽东在中国革命的早期活动中就提出了实行民众大联合,打败反动派的口号,后来他不断发展统一战线的理论,使之成为毛泽东最重要的政策和策略思想之一。他把统一战线、武装斗争,党的建设看作是中国共产党在中国革命中战胜敌人的“三个法宝”。在中国革命胜利前夕,毛泽东在总结中国革命的经验时说:由中国共产党领导的“各革命阶级各革命派别的统一战线”是战胜敌人的主要武器之一,并指出,“中国人民已经取得的主要的和基本的经验,就是这两件事:(一)在国内,唤起民众。这就是团结工人阶级、农民阶级、城市小资产阶级和民族资产阶级,在工人阶级领导之下,结成国内的统一战线···(二)在国外,联合世界上以平等待我的民族和各国人民”,“结成国际的统一战线”
马克思主义的统一战线的政策和策略包括以下几方面的主要内容:一要分清敌我,弄清谁是革命的朋友,谁是革命的敌人,这需要具体问题具体分析,“采取发展进步势力、争取中间势力、反对顽固势力的策略”;二是弄清领导和被领导、先锋队和同盟军的界限,坚持无产阶级及其政党在统一战线中的领导地位;三是在统一战线中区分与劳动人民的同盟和与非劳动人民的同盟,以工农联盟为基础;对待资产阶级要又联合又斗争,“综合联合和斗争两方面的政策”
第二,要利用矛盾,争取多数,反对少数,各个击破。关于利用矛盾,争取同盟军,最大限度地孤立和打击最主要的敌人的思想,马克思和恩格斯早在《共产党宣言》中就已提出。他们认为,共产党人应当根据不同国家的情况,有效地利用资产阶级同封建势力以及资产阶级各派别之间的矛盾,反对共同的敌人。在考察封建专制的德国革命时,认为共产党可以同资产阶级“一起去反对君主专制”的反动性。列宁则特别注意到利用矛盾分化瓦解敌人的政治策略,他在一篇著名的论文中写道:“要战胜更强大的敌人,只有尽最大的力量,同时必须极仔细、极留心、极谨慎、极巧妙地一方面利用敌人之间的一切‘裂痕’,哪怕是最小的‘裂痕’,利用各国资产阶级之间以及各个国家内资产阶级各集团或各派别之间的一切利益对立,另一方面要利用一切机会,哪怕是极小的机会,来获得大量的同盟者,尽管这些同盟者是暂时的、动摇的、不稳定的、靠不住的、有条件的。谁不懂得这一点,谁就是丝毫不懂得马克思主义”,并指出:“以上所说的一切,对于无产阶级夺取政权以前和以后的时期,都是一样适用的”。毛泽东发展了马克思、列宁的上述思想,把它概括为“利用矛盾,争取多数,反对少数,各个击破”的十六字策略方针。
利用矛盾,主要是利用敌人之间的矛盾,正如毛泽东所说:敌人内部的大狗小狗饱狗饿狗之间的一点有趣的争斗,一个不大不小的缺口,一种又痒又痛的矛盾,“对于革命的人民却是有用的。我们要把敌人营垒中间的一切争斗、缺口、矛盾,统统收集起来,作为反对当前主要敌人之用。”争取多数,即争取和团结群众,同时也要利用敌人内部的矛盾,以争取和利用多数暂时不是最主要敌人的顽固势力。反对少数,即分化和瓦解敌人,反对极少数最主要的敌人。毛泽东指出,敌人能够用纵横捭阖的手段来对付革命队伍,“共产党也能够用纵横捭阖的手段对付反革命队伍。他们能够拉了我们队伍中的坏分子跑出去,我们当然也能够拉了他们队伍中的“坏分子’(对于我们是好分子)跑过来。假如我们能够从他们队伍中多拉一些人出来,那敌人的队伍就减少了,我们的队伍就扩大了。”各个击破,即逐步消灭敌人,就是要集中优势兵力,各个歼灭敌人。“打仗只能一仗一仗地打,敌人只能一部分一部分地消灭···军事书上叫做各个击破。”
六、正确处理两类不同性质的矛盾
正确处理社会主义社会内部的矛盾问题,是无产阶级政党和政权机关的一项基本政策。列宁曾经洞察到社会主义社会仍然存在矛盾。1920年列宁写了《对布哈林(过渡时期的经济》一书的评论》,针对布哈林把社会分裂为两个基本阶级的阶级对抗并且到处都有它的表现的观点,列宁指出“对抗和矛盾断然不同。在社会主义下,对抗消灭了,矛盾存在着”。列宁还敏锐地注意到,社会主义国家政治生活的主要内容将发生变化,认为不能再单从阶级斗争的“旧观点”解释政治,“政治应该是人民的事”。毛泽东用对立统一规律观察社会主义社会,第一次明确提出必须正确区分和处理两类不同性质的社会矛盾,把正确处理人民内部矛盾作为国家政治生活的主题。毛泽东指出:“在我们的面前有两类社会矛盾,这就是敌我之间的矛盾和人民内部的矛盾。这是性质完全不同的两类矛盾”。他还明确指出革命时期的大规模的急风暴雨式的群众阶级斗争已基本结束,“还有反革命,但是不多了”。因此他把正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题作为一个“总题目”,作为国家政治生活的主要方面。
关于如何区分两类不同性质的矛盾,毛泽东认为首先要弄清什么是人民,什么是敌人,他说:“在现阶段,在建设社会主义的时期,一切赞成、拥护和参加社会主义建设事业的阶级、阶层和社会集团,都属于人民的范围;一切反抗社会主义革命和敌视、破坏社会主义建设的社会势力和社会集团,都是人民的敌人。”敌我之间的矛盾是对抗性的矛盾,而人民内部矛盾则是在人民利益根本一致基础上的矛盾,这两类矛盾在一定条件下可以互相转化。
敌我矛盾和人民内部矛盾的性质不同,解决的方法也不同。对于敌我矛盾,要用专政的方法解决,即“在必要的时期内,不让他们参与政治活动,强迫他们服从人民政府的法律,强迫他们从事劳动并在劳动中改造他们成为新人”。对于人民内部矛盾,则要用民主的方法解决,即讨论的方法,批评的方法,说服教育的方法,而不是强制的、压服的方法。毛泽东指出:“什么叫正确解决人民内部矛盾?就是实事求是,群众路线。归根到底就是群众路线四个字。”毛泽东还指出解决人民内部矛盾的方针是“统筹兼顾,适当安排”
要正确处理人民内部矛盾,除了要用民主的方法,采取“群众路线”和“统筹兼顾”的根本方针,还要在政治上实行“团结——批评——团结”的政策,在共产党和民主党派的关系上实行“长期共存,互相监督”的政策,在科学文化工作中实行“百花齐放、百家争鸣”的政策,在经济工作中实行兼顾国家、集体、个人三者利益的政策等。






















