Chapter 30 Section 6 Transforming Thought①

① Lao She consciously reformed his thinking, trying to reflect his new ideological realm in his creation.This is the painful and tortuous spiritual history of a generation.This section is the true record of Lao She's complex and painful spiritual history, from the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China to the end of Lao She's life.To reflect this process, this section is not arranged in chronological order.From the beginning of Lao She's sincere transformation with enthusiasm, he finally realized that he was still a "bourgeois old man" and could not keep up with the pace of revolution. His inner helplessness and anxiety were palpable. , so that he does not know what to do, this is where his pain and sorrow lie.

After liberation, I realized that literature and art must serve the people, and I followed this principle to write.That's a big bonus.With this understanding, I not only changed my attitude towards writing, but also changed my attitude towards being a human being.That is to say, I must stand among the people, not above them, as I did in the past—although I had sympathy for the people and wanted to speak for them, I always thought that my cultural level was better than theirs. I have to help them, but they cannot help me.It was only after liberation that I gradually realized that this kind of intellectual superiority is arrogant.Facts have proved: Only with the leadership of the party and the creation of the people can there be everything in the new society.Apart from accepting the leadership of the party and learning from the people, it is difficult for writers to write decent works.A writer should not speak for the people, but should learn from the people and speak the words of the people.Seeing this clearly, the relationship between the people and myself has changed a lot: the people should be good teachers and helpful friends of writers, and writers should not be conceited.The attitude of speaking for the people is the attitude of knights in old novels who occasionally stand up for the people.Once a chivalrous man takes refuge in an "upright official", he becomes a minion of the ruler, such as Huang Tianba.Speaking the words of the people is not such an attitude of "playing tickets"; one must agree with the people in thought and emotion, and stand on the same stand.

1. Learn from the people As far as I am concerned, although I don't have any special knowledge, I have read some books and can write some stories.So I felt that I must have some geniuses, and I couldn't help but feel proud.Once you are proud, you look down on the people and separate yourself from the masses.The more you value books, the less you will despise real life; the more you call yourself a genius, the less you will despise the wisdom of the people.Going back and forth, separating your own knowledge from the people's knowledge, thinking that your own knowledge is not easy for ordinary people to obtain, and you don't need to understand the people and absorb knowledge from the people.In this way, my own knowledge is extremely limited, and I am unwilling to learn from the people to enrich my knowledge, especially the knowledge of class struggle. Therefore, writers must be arrogant; if they are not arrogant and ignorant, it will be difficult to maintain own superiority.It was only after I was liberated that I realized this.Well, if you take a look at the construction from scratch all over the country, you will immediately understand how much knowledge is needed for each construction. Our own little knowledge is really a drop in the ocean!As far as revolution is concerned, how rich is the struggle experience of the people and how wise is the party's leadership? How much have we reflected in our works, and how have we reflected it?If you think about it this way, you should not be proud, and you should make up your mind to learn from the people.

2. Serve the people I grew up in a cold family, and I knew how to endure hardships and stand hard work since I was a child.However, the education I received was a bourgeois education.Therefore, even though I have never desperately strived for fame and fortune, I am not willing to give up fame and fortune completely.That is to say, in the old society, although I didn't shamelessly climb to the top, I didn't really know what I was doing.What is writing for?After much deliberation, it seems that it is still for personal fame and fortune, and it is difficult to find other explanations.It wasn't until after liberation that I found the correct answer and realized that I should serve the people.With this answer, I really realized what I do, and I should stop wandering around in circles of fame and fortune.

In this way, I desperately went to write.As long as it is needed by the people, I am willing to write.I treat all forms of literature and art equally, and there is no difference between what is worth writing and what is not.I write dramas and operas; I write essays and cross talks.In my opinion, rice, wheat and miscellaneous grains have their own uses, so they are both worth cultivating; the same is true for pen farming. In addition to writing, I also participate in many social activities and the work of literary and art groups.Once, a friend from a capitalist country said to me kindly: Why do you participate in those activities and work?You are a writer, you should concentrate on writing!At that time, I did not reply, for fear of offending the guest.However, I knew in my heart that I was a writer in the new society.I can't focus on my personal fame and fortune, and immerse myself in writing; (I'm afraid I won't be able to write anything!) I must go where the society needs me.If this had been put before liberation, I would have thanked that guest, and felt that it was unnecessary to be busy with social activities and so on.However, this happened not so long ago, so I feel at ease that I should participate in those activities①.This example may also be enough to help explain that if the bourgeoisie's personal fame and fortune are put first, the relationship between the individual and the new society cannot be adjusted, and it will be awkward everywhere.On the contrary, if serving the people is the first priority, the relationship between the individual and the society will be harmonious and harmonious.

-------- ① Lao She has many part-time jobs outside of writing, mainly as editor-in-chief of "Speaking, Rap and Sing Sing".Vice chairman and executive director of China Folk Literature and Art Research Association.Chairman of Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles.Member of the Culture and Education Committee of the Government Administration Council.Member of the Central People's Government's Cultural Film Steering Committee.Member of the Propaganda Committee of the Literary and Art Circles to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.Vice Chairman of the Beijing Branch of the Chinese People's Defense of World Peace Against U.S. Aggression Committee.Consultant of Beijing Blind Artist Workshop.Member of the Beijing Municipal People's Government.Member of Beijing Municipal Commission of Economy Inspection.Director of China-India Friendship Association.Member of the North China Administrative Committee of the State Council.Member of the Beijing Municipal Committee for the Implementation of the Marriage Law.Consultant of Beijing Opera Director Committee.Member of Beijing Election Commission.Vice-chairman of the Beijing Anti-US Aid Korea Branch.Vice President of the China-DPRK Friendship Association.Deputy Head of the Third Chinese People's Condolences Mission to North Korea.Vice-chairman of the Chinese Writers Association.Secretary of the Writers Association Secretariat.Vice President of Beijing Sino-Soviet Friendship Association.Member of Beijing Municipal Draft Constitution Discussion Committee.Delegate to the First Beijing Municipal People's Congress.Delegate to the National People's Congress. Editor-in-chief of "Beijing Literature and Art".Deputy Director of the Central Working Committee for the Promotion of Putonghua.Liaison member of China and Asian-African Writers Permanent Affairs Bureau.Member of the third and fourth National Committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Lao She once expressed his views on too many part-time jobs, "call me less for meetings, and encourage me to write more".For frequent social activities, he is actually very distressed. 3. Politics and art Among the intellectuals in the old society, some considered themselves noble and did not care about politics;I should probably fall into the former category.Not asking about politics makes me feel aloof, which is also a sense of superiority.As human beings, we are all ashamed of flattering others, and we are not afraid of suffering some disadvantages.In this way, in the filthy old society, we can be independent and not be dragged away by evil forces to be lackeys.We are willing to support ourselves, even if it is more difficult.

The spirit of independence and unreliability has certain benefits in the old society.It keeps us from being greedy for profit and going into troubled waters.But it also has flaws, that is, arrogance and contempt for politics.This shortcoming of Xintian is also my shortcoming.Because we don't care about politics, we only know how to hate the reactionary forces, but we don't understand the revolutionary movement.We arbitrarily think that since both are engaged in politics, they are not noble.In the era of revolution, we made mistakes - we only had some patriotism, but we didn't know the revolutionary road.Thinking about it carefully, our independence is nothing more than self-care and seeking nothing but faults.We are not surrounded by all sides, from the incomplete distinction between black and white.We always want to avoid the dark forces far away, but we can't dodge, but we dare not get close to the revolution. Only when the revolution succeeds, we realize that it is the revolution that saved us, not our own independence!Therefore, they are all willing to follow the Communist Party, actively serve the people, care about politics, and transform their thinking.

It is precisely because I have never cared about politics that I cannot write highly political works today.Yes, seeing the vigorous socialist construction, I did have political enthusiasm.However, political enthusiasm can only be the motivating force for creation, and cannot replace the experience of political struggle, nor can it replace the correct understanding of policy guidelines.Political enthusiasm prompted me to write, but what to write?This becomes a problem. If you want to describe today's society without knowing today's politics, you can't even write a single character.This is my experience.Look, in the past, people who played snare drums along the street and bought second-hand goods didn't pay attention to buying and selling dead people?how are they doing todaySome of them have been changed to waiters for receiving goods from waste companies along the street and doing fair trade!How did they change?Is it spontaneous?no!There are many, many political jobs in their process of change.all right.Think about it, if a writer doesn't care about politics, and can't find the ins and outs of how to transform a small drummer, how can he create such characters?As it is with the bongos, so it is with the barber!Everyone is like this!How can the artistry alone solve the problem?This person is making progress, and that person is lagging behind. What is the standard?Not yet politically conscious?In this way, if we want to talk about artistry today, we should first talk about politics.Art should serve politics, and it must.Unless we understand the political power and influence of the new society, we will not be able to understand the correct relationship between each individual and society, and we will not be able to write characters.There is no artistry if you can't write characters.We can no longer look at art through the old eyes.Everyone, today, has received different degrees of political and ideological education, which is unprecedented; according to the old creative methods, how can we write works that reflect today's reality?Politics is the key to understanding life in the new society.

I think: If a writer can overcome the arrogant sense of superiority of intellectuals and sincerely learn from the people; throw away the bourgeois thought of fame and fortune, and serve the people wholeheartedly; You can gradually improve and write some decent works. 4. Find your own position ① Although I sympathize with the revolution, I am not yet a part of it, so I don't really understand it, and I can't write anything worthwhile about what I don't understand. -------- ① This is a conversation between Lao She and the British Stuart and Roma Gold in the spring of 1966 (translated by Shu Yue).It is his summary of his thoughts throughout his life and his understanding of the Chinese revolution.Here is Lao She's profound historical reflection, and there is a trace of lack of confidence in himself that has almost never occurred.

I have written.That's because, back then, the world was a world where everyone could easily find their place.At that time, the relationship between people was obvious, and the boundaries were very clear. Some people were poor, some were rich; some were exploited, and some exploited others.These are real things, and a writer can describe these phenomena as one can photograph them with a camera.Xiangzi doesn't necessarily feel and think like I wrote it, but when I create this character, I can put myself in the shoes and imagine what I would do if I was in Xiangzi's shoes.This kind of experience can also be shared by readers. Readers can imagine themselves pulling a foreign car instead of sitting on it.Any foreigner who has never been to Beijing can imagine how he would feel in the same situation. From a writing standpoint, it was a relatively simple situation, with stark disparity between rich and poor, starvation and disease causing enormous suffering, and the indifference of those responsible.In China, an accepted reality is that the value of millions of people is like a herd of livestock. Their reason for existence is to serve only a few people. They are consumables, and their lives are worthless.Some foreigners also don't see the Chinese as human beings with the same emotions, pain or sorrow as themselves. In those times, you were either on the side of those who believed that social reality was the natural order, or you were against them.This is the essence of revolution.If you believe that all men and women are brothers, then you have no other choice.You are a revolutionary, and you will support those who have the courage and determination to change the status quo of society. But this does not mean that we are all Marxist revolutionaries, nor are we scientific reformers.When he participated in the May 4th Movement, Mao Zedong was not a Communist, nor could he be.At that time, no one in China knew about communism.But for Mao Zedong and all of us, the situation had become unbearable.The revolution began to arouse the masses' awareness of their situation, kicked into misery by foreign powers.For the first time since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Boxer Rebellion, they saw that the foreign powers were not the enemies of the Chinese ruling class, but their allies.Foreign imperialism and Chinese capitalism are essentially the same species. Therefore, we must first drive away those foreigners who exploit and bully the Chinese, and then turn around and deal with those Chinese who rely on foreign guns and do the same bad things. The first stage of the revolution is patriotic.The second stage is patriotism and victory over domestic reactionaries backed by imperialism.Everyone can understand what happened, even the uneducated Xiangzi can understand.Now the revolution has entered a new stage, where the emphasis is on changing the way of thinking rather than changing the conditions of life. I can understand why Mao Zedong wanted to destroy the old bourgeois way of life, but I'm not a Marxist so I can't describe the struggle.Nor can I think or feel the world like the Beijing students in 1966, who saw the world from a Marxist perspective. You probably think that I am a sixty-nine-year-old bourgeois old man. On the one hand, he hopes for the success of the revolution, but on the other hand, he is always unable to keep up with the pace of the revolution.We old people don't have to apologize for our actions anymore, all we can do is explain why we are the way we are, and say goodbye to the young people who are looking for their future.We also hand over the task of describing the new society to the younger generation, who can transform it according to their experience.