Chapter 51 Speech at the Guangzhou Central Working Conference

(March 23, 1961) I am not in favor of publishing the article "About Investigation Work" [1] now, and I only print it internally for everyone to see.Some comrades said that these are several short articles, but no, they are several paragraphs of one article.What is the role of this article now? Some people may not understand this article.Why? Because the article was about the democratic revolution at that time.Who to rely on, who to unite with, and who to overthrow during the period of the democratic revolution are issues of anti-imperialist and anti-feudalism.The problem now is that of socialist revolution and socialist construction.This must be explained to those who read the article.

I said in the comments of this article that this article seems to be somewhat useful, not that it is all useful.When I say it has some uses, I mean that the central point of the article is to do a good job in investigation and research.It is not easy to establish a Marxist-Leninist line.The Seventh Congress of the Fourth Red Army Party was held in Longyan, overthrowing the correct line and proposing a wrong line[2].The Eighth Congress was held in Shanghang, or the wrong line was maintained[3].It was not until the Ninth Congress that the correct line was restored [4]. The second section of the article says that investigation is problem solving.Among them, many inspectors, many guerrilla leaders, and many newly appointed cadres were criticized. They like to announce their political opinions as soon as they arrive.This is talking about things before the Fourth Plenum[5].That group of people was headed by Liu Angong[6]. He and some other people seized the military power as soon as they arrived, and the army fell into their hands.A total of four or five of them served as members of the Front Committee until the Ninth Congress.Later, the central government sent a letter saying that they provoked the relationship within the Red Army and undermined unity.The Ninth Congress of the Fourth Red Army Party was held in December 1929. This article was written in 1930, summarizing the experience of that period.Before writing this article, I also wrote a short article titled "Opposing Bookishness", but I can't find it now.This article was recently found.I am not sad when the other articles are lost, nor do I remember them. I always remember these two articles.Suddenly found an article, I am happy.At that time, there is no need to talk about the detailed process of producing this article.

This article was written to solve the problems of the democratic revolution. It said that in order to achieve the victory of the democratic revolution, investigation and research should be done, and typical investigation and research should be done.Now it is not a democratic revolution, but a socialist revolution and socialist construction.The socialist revolution is basically completed, but not yet finalized. The third section talks about opposing bookishism, which includes a question of breaking superstition.At that time, it didn't matter what happened, as long as it belonged to the superiors, it was considered good.For example, how can you realize the resolution of the Sixth Party Congress? If you don't take some concrete measures, it will be difficult to realize it.Don't say that some of the resolutions of the Sixth Congress are wrong in principle, even if they are all correct, without concrete measures and without investigation and research, it is impossible to realize them.The documents that our central government is working on now cannot be realized without specific measures.In order to take correct measures, we must do investigation and research work.

The fourth section says that ideal class assessment and ideal work guidance will be produced without actual investigation, and the result will be either opportunism or putschism.What about now? Now we still have to do class analysis, no matter whether it is urban or rural, we cannot do without class analysis.Recently, the central document mentioned that the poor peasants and lower-middle peasants should be established in rural areas, and those places that need to regain power should establish strong poor and lower-middle peasant representatives, because there are still classes.The exploiting classes have been wiped out in most parts of our country.The landlord bourgeoisie has been wiped out, but isn’t it completely gone? Investigation and research are needed, and there may still be some places that have not been overthrown and are still in power.Generally speaking, starting from November last year, we have done a lot of work in this area in the past five months, and now we can properly resolve the two egalitarian issues.As for households with five guarantees and taking care of poor households, egalitarianism is even more important.The peasants themselves said that people have eyes, and they will not watch them starve and neglect them.A comrade spoke at the group and said that the core issue now is to win over the peasants and unite them around the party. This is a good statement.We have so many people in China, most of them live in rural areas, with just over 100 million in cities and over 500 million in rural areas, a ratio of one to five.Without the support of farmers, no matter how many railways you build and how much steel you produce, it will be overturned.

The fifth section talks about the longitudinal and cross-sectional methods of investigation work. [7] I only used these two terms once, and I haven't used them myself since I wrote this article.I also don't want comrades to use it in writing articles and speeches in the future, because it is difficult to understand.What are the characteristics of the longitudinal method? I said in the article: "Recently, comrades in the Fourth Army of the Red Army have generally paid attention to investigation work, but many people's investigation methods are wrong. The results of the investigation are like hanging up A piece of dog meat account".I just collected a lot of materials, without viewpoints or ideas, "like a countryman who went to the streets and heard many novel stories, and it was like standing on the top of a mountain to observe the city of the people".When you stand on the top of a hill and look at the city wall, you can only see very small and narrow streets, many houses, and many people on the streets.As for who these people are? It is not clear whether they are capitalists or workers, whether they are Communists or non-Communists, or even whether they are men or women.Such findings are of no practical use.This is the longitudinal survey method.This method of investigation can be used as our auxiliary means to achieve some secondary goals, but it is not our main means and cannot achieve our main purpose.Our investigative work cannot stop at the vertical method, but must use the cross-sectional method, that is, class analysis and typical investigation.

The content of the sixth section, I think there is still a lot of use now, and it will be useful in the future.Victory in China's revolutionary struggle depends on Chinese comrades understanding China's conditions, and cannot rely on foreign comrades understanding China's conditions, or relying on foreign comrades to help us win the battle.When I wrote this article, I hadn’t anticipated the later Wang Ming line[8], and the Li San line[9] hadn’t yet appeared at that time, and Comrade Qu Qiubai’s putschism[10] did exist.For a period of time our party relied on the Communist International[11] to write resolutions, instructions, and programs for us. The resolution of the Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee was written by Comintern representative Mif in Shanghai for us.

Below is the seventh section, which talks about the technique of investigation, that is, the method of investigation.The first point is to hold survey meetings and conduct discussion-style surveys.You can propose several plans, discuss with them, and study with them. This plan is better, or that plan is better.Discussion-style investigations are required to draw almost correct conclusions.The second point is to talk about who the investigation will reach.All kinds of people want it, people with more experience want it, and people with less experience but advanced thinking also want it.In terms of occupation, workers, farmers, businessmen, intellectuals, soldiers, and even hooligans are also required.The third point is to talk about whether it is better to have more people or fewer people for the investigation meeting.It is good to have more people, but it is more difficult to hold a survey meeting with too many people.The fourth point is about the outline of the investigation.The outline must be prepared in advance, and questions should be asked according to the outline, which requires a certain amount of time.The fifth point is to talk about going out in person.Here, from the chairman of the township government to the chairman of the national central government, from the captain to the commander-in-chief, from the secretary of the branch to the general secretary, everyone must personally act.I spoke very broadly, and it was a bit lawless at that time.You must personally conduct actual social and economic investigations, and you cannot rely solely on written reports, because the two are two different things.We gained experience at that time and knew that we could not rely on written reports alone.The sixth point is to go deep into individual issues, deeply dissect a sparrow, and understand a place or a problem.The whole country knows about two townships, one in the south and one in the north, and has a basic idea of ​​China's rural areas.Different industries have to be divided into industries.For example, coal mines, metallurgy, machinery, etc., it is almost enough to know one factory or mine each.There are more than 400 coal mines in the central government. It is easy to get a comprehensive and thorough understanding of one of them. Coal is also dug in other places.The metallurgical and mechanical industries also learn about a factory in this way.This is heavy industry, as well as light industry. Industry is more complicated than agriculture.Get a deep understanding of a place or a problem, and then investigate other places or other problems later, and you will easily find the way.Otherwise, it will not be easy to find the way.The seventh point is about making records yourself.At that time, I was still full of energy.Now the survey requires me to make detailed records, maybe it's okay, I want to try it.This is a key point of the investigation.Not only do you have to be the chairman yourself, and properly direct the attendees of the investigation meeting, but you also have to be the recorder, recording the results of the investigation.Now I don't oppose the investigation team and local comrades to conduct investigations. This time I sent three investigation teams, one in Zhejiang, one in Hunan, and one in Guangdong, and combined with comrades from the local provincial party committee.I was indirect and did not investigate directly.With such convenient conditions now, it was difficult to conduct such investigations in the past. At that time, our entire force was only a few thousand people.

As for the first section talking about no investigation and no right to speak, everyone is familiar with it.This slogan was put forward at that time.This time there are two issues, one for handicrafts and one for business, because without investigation, I have no right to speak.I don't always believe that there is no right to speak without investigation. Most of us, myself included, under-investigate.In the eleven years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, I conducted two investigations. One was on the issue of cooperatives. I read dozens of materials, several in each province, and compiled a book called "Socialism in Rural China". Climax" [12].I have read some materials several times and studied why they are doing well. I relied on those materials for my investigation and research on the issue of cooperation.Another time was about the top ten relationships. I spent a month and a half discussing with the heads of thirty-four departments, one department a day or two days a department, listening to their reports and discussing with them, and then came up with the top ten relationships. In conclusion, this is an investigation to the people at the upper levels and to the ministers of various ministries.

Now the whole Party has a better understanding of the situation, and the central, provincial, and local levels have a better understanding of the situation below. I think it should be said this way.Why is it not so much? I got the bottom of it, but it is still not so much. I said "not so much", not that you are all gone.Now the situation has improved somewhat, but don't be complacent. Don't be satisfied with the fact that we have a better understanding of the situation and the situation. We must arouse the enthusiasm of the masses and at the same time arouse the enthusiasm of the cadres.As soon as the cadres go among the masses, their enthusiasm comes.My experience has always been like this, whenever there is no solution to worry, I go to investigate and study. After investigation and research, the solution will come out and the problem will be solved.The same is true in wars. Whenever there is no way to do it, investigate and study.During the second counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression", the soldiers felt that it was very difficult to handle. At the beginning, they did not understand the situation and were worried every day.Peng Dehuai and I ran on Baiyun Mountain for a day, inspecting the terrain and seeing many places.I told Peng Dehuai, the Fourth Army and the Third Army of the First Red Army should attack the front, and attack two routes. If your Third Red Army is all packed, the enemy will surely collapse.What if you don’t watch it? You worry about it every day, and you don’t know how to play.There will be a solution after investigation and research, everyone go back and try it.

The overall responsibility for the high indicators and other issues that have arisen in the past few years is of course my responsibility, because I am the chairman.Where is my responsibility? Why did I not promote investigation work until now? Why didn't I initiate it long ago? Moreover, I myself did not go down to investigate a commune or a factory.In order to make amends, I will now advocate it.This year I talked about it once at the Central Working Conference[14], and again at the Ninth Plenary Session[15] of the Central Committee, and I have to say it again at this meeting, otherwise it will be said that I didn’t talk about it.Some issues need to be addressed face to face.For example, this article "About Investigation Work" should be explained to comrades when it is distributed. The article mainly talks about the basic methods of investigation and research.In the stage of the democratic revolution, investigation and research must be carried out, in the stage of socialist revolution and socialist construction, investigation and research must still be carried out, and in ten thousand years, investigation and research must still be carried out.This method is desirable.As for what problem to solve by investigation and research, this article is to solve the problem of the democratic revolution, and it is not to solve this problem now, so we must make this point clear.In addition, there are nouns such as transverse method and vertical method, which can not be used.Bookishness is now called dogmatism. Khrushchev[16] said that we are not against dogmatism. On the contrary, we have always been against dogmatism, and it is we "dogmatists" who oppose dogmatism.Dogmatism, with only principles and without specific policies, cannot solve problems, and without investigation and research, it cannot produce correct specific policies.

The article also makes the point that correct strategies can only emerge from practical experience, from research.The so-called strategic line covers a wide range, including the political line.For example, which classes to rely on, which classes to unite with, and which classes to overthrow, all belong to the issue of strategic line.The article talks about the commercial bourgeoisie and the lumpen proletariat. Our understanding of these two classes has always been vague. Even at the time of writing the article, it is still vague. There is no specific policy for them, and there is no correct policy, because we have not done this. investigation.The principles and principles put forward by Marx and Engels are conclusions drawn after investigation.Without the London Library, Marx would not have been able to write Das Kapital.Lenin's "On Imperialism" [17] is now printed as a thin book, and the original materials for his research are many times thicker than this book.Lenin's philosophical work "Materialism and Empirio-Criticism" was written after he spent several years studying the history of philosophy.Lenin wrote this book to criticize the "empirical criticism" of the idealist god-making school at that time.My article criticizing social science research for living only from books is dangerous.Because that was the time when we were defeated. After the failure of the Great Revolution in 1927, some intellectuals regressed, degenerated, and turned into the bourgeoisie.They only discuss life from books, and do not conduct investigations among workers, peasants, or society, and do not conduct investigations among the masses.Without those victories and those defeats, without the failure of the fifth counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression", without the Long March, it would have been impossible to write my pamphlet "Strategic Issues in China's Revolutionary War".Because I wanted to write this book, I was forced to study bourgeois military science.Some people say that my art of war relies on two books, one is "Sun Tzu's Art of War" and the other is "Sun Tzu's Art of War".I have read it, but I hadn't read "The Art of War" at that time.At the Zunyi Conference[18], Kaifeng[19] said: Your stuff is not necessarily brilliant, it is nothing more than adding "Sun Tzu's Art of War."I just asked him: How many chapters do you think there are in The Art of War by Sun Tzu? What is the title of the first chapter? Please tell me.He couldn't answer.I said: You haven’t read it, how do you know that I am familiar with "The Art of War"? Kai Feng himself has never read "The Art of War", but he said that I used "The Art of War".During the war at that time, the situation was so tense that no one cared about Sun Tzu's art of war and battle rules, all of which were forgotten.When fighting a war, you have to estimate the situation of the enemy and yourself, and make decisions quickly. Who would remember those books? Haven’t some of you studied the four major teachings? Do you use the four major teachings every time you fight? If that’s the case, it’s completely dogmatic Doctrine! I am not opposed to theory, the principles and principles of Marxism must exist, and I also talked about it in this article.There is nothing mysterious about treating Marxism as a tool, because it is applicable and other tools are not.The materialism of the bourgeoisie is not suitable. Only Marx's materialism, that is, dialectical materialism, which is applied to social issues and becomes historical materialism, is suitable.Marx created many theories, such as the theory of the party, the theory of the nation, the theory of class struggle, the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the theory of literature and art, etc., which should also be treated as suitable tools. In the preface to "Survey in the Rural Areas" I wrote in March 1941, I mentioned that my attitude towards doing research is that I must be respectful and hardworking, and treat others as comrades.With the attitude of equality, the attitude of being a primary school student, I can investigate something, otherwise people will ignore me, say what I know, and talk endlessly. What can you do? In May 1930, I I did a survey in Xunwu County in the south of Jiangxi.Who did I find in this investigation? I found a few mid-level and lower-level cadres, a bankrupt president of a chamber of commerce, a small official who had managed money and food in the county government office, and a poor scholar. In addition, Xunwu County Secretary of the County Party Committee.A few of us talked for several days.Those people have something to say! They told me the whole situation there, the industrial and commercial situation in Xunwu, and the situation of all walks of life.That scholar, quite old and very tasteful, saw that I respected him, so he told me many things.I also said in the preface to "Rural Survey", who was the first person who made me aware of all the corruption in Chinese prisons? It was a jailer in Hengshan County, Hunan Province.I talked with him for a day or two, and he talked about me.I first explained the purpose of my visit, which was to investigate what was going on in this classroom, so he explained various complicated situations.It's a pity that this investigation material is no longer available.The two typical investigation materials after going to Jinggangshan were also lost.I am not sad about losing other things, but I am more sad about losing these materials.In addition, when I was at the Peasant Movement Workshop in Guangdong, I mobilized students from various provinces to copy folk songs. Each person had ten songs, ten people had a hundred songs, a hundred people had a thousand songs, and three hundred people had three thousand folk songs. ten poems.These include Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang, but not Qinghai and Xinjiang.I said to them: You copy folk songs, I will distribute papers, how many papers will be distributed to each person.When a person grows into his teens or twenties, he can always remember some folk songs.Many things can be learned from these folk songs.These thousands of folk songs were later lost, which is a pity. Published based on the transcript of the speech kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] "About Investigation Work", see note [2] on page 240 of this volume. [2] On June 22, 1929, the Seventh Congress of the Fourth Red Army of the Communist Party of China was held in Longyan, Fujian.At the meeting, debates arose on issues such as the party's leadership, ideological and political work, rural base areas, and the tasks of the Red Army.The meeting mistakenly rejected Mao Zedong's correct opinion that the party's leadership of the Red Army must implement a centralized system (the name for democratic centralism at the time) and that it must oppose the idea of ​​rogue bandits without base areas.The meeting re-elected the Front Enemy Committee of the Fourth Red Army Party, and Mao Zedong was not re-elected as the Secretary of the Front Committee. [3] In late September 1929, the Eighth Congress of the Fourth Red Army of the Communist Party of China was held in Shanghang, Fujian to discuss issues such as the Red Army’s laws and regulations. The meeting lasted for three days, but due to inconsistent understanding, no results were reached. [4] From December 28 to 29, 1929, the Ninth Congress of the Fourth Red Army of the Communist Party of China was held in Gutian, Shanghang, Fujian.The meeting summed up the experience accumulated by the party in the process of fighting against various erroneous ideas and erroneous tendencies since the founding of the Red Army, unified ideological understanding, and passed the "Resolution of the Ninth Congress of the Fourth Army of the Communist Party of China".The resolution puts forward the fundamental principles for building the party and the army.The meeting elected a new Front Enemy Committee, and Mao Zedong was elected secretary. [5] Refers to the Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in Shanghai on January 7, 1931. [6] Liu Angong (1899-1929), born in Yongchuan, Sichuan.In 1929, he was appointed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China as a special commissioner of the Central Committee to guide the work of the Fourth Red Army.Later, he served as Secretary of the Military Commission of the Fourth Red Army of the Communist Party of China and Director of the Political Department.At the Seventh and Eighth Congresses of the Red Fourth Army, he was elected as a member of the Front Enemy Committee. [7] In the fifth section of the original text of "About Investigation Work", there is a sentence "Our main investigation method is the 'cross-section method' rather than the 'longitudinal method'".When this article was included in "Selected Readings of Mao Zedong's Works (Type A)" published by People's Publishing House in 1964, it was edited and deleted by the author. [8] Refers to the mistake of Wang Ming's "Left" adventurism.In January 1931, at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Wang Ming and others, with the support of the Communist International and its representative Mif, gained leadership in the Party Central Committee.They confuse the boundaries between the democratic revolution and the socialist revolution politically, juxtaposing anti-bourgeois and anti-imperialist and anti-feudalism; they deny the obvious changes in domestic class relations after the September 18th Incident, and regard the middle forces as "the most dangerous enemy"; Promote the "City Center Theory", advocating that the Red Army seize the central city to achieve the first victory of one province and several provinces to form a national victory.In the military, adventurism was first promoted, and later it became conservatism and escapeism.In terms of organization, sectarianism is practiced, and those who disagree with their erroneous ideas are "cruelly fought and mercilessly attacked."Wang Ming's "Left" adventurism ruled in the party for four years, causing heavy losses to the party and the revolutionary cause.In January 1935, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held the Zunyi Conference, which established the correct leadership of the new Central Committee represented by Mao Zedong, thus ending the rule of Wang Ming's "Left" adventurism in the Central Committee of the Party. [9] Lisan route, see note [17] on page 143 of this volume. [10] Refers to the "Left" blind activism errors represented by Qu Qiubai.On August 7, 1927, at the critical moment after the failure of the Great Revolution, Qu Qiubai presided over an emergency meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.After the meeting, he served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Provisional Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and presided over the work of the Central Committee.In November of the same year, he presided over the enlarged meeting of the Central Provisional Political Bureau, accepted the "Left" erroneous view of the Communist International representative Rominaz, and believed that the nature of the Chinese revolution at that time was the so-called "uninterrupted revolution", which confused the democratic revolution and The boundary of the socialist revolution, and asserted that "the current situation in the whole of China is the situation of direct revolution", thus determining the general strategy of implementing national armed riots, and committed the mistake of "Left" blind activism.By April 1928, this "Left" error had basically come to an end in practical work across the country. [11] Comintern, see note [15] on page 142 of this volume. [12] "The Upsurge of Socialism in China's Rural Areas" was edited by Mao Zedong in 1955.This book contains a total of 176 articles reflecting the situation of agricultural cooperation in various places. Mao Zedong wrote a commentary for 104 of them and a preface for the whole book.The book was published by People's Publishing House in January 1956. [13] Peng Dehuai (1898-1974), born in Xiangtan, Hunan.At that time, he was the commander-in-chief and former secretary of the Third Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. [14] Refers to the Working Conference of the CPC Central Committee held in Beijing from December 24, 1960 to January 13, 1961. [15] Refers to the Ninth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in Beijing from January 14 to 18, 1961. [16] Khrushchev (1894-1971), at that time served as the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. [17] "On Imperialism", see note [7] on page 141 of this volume. [18] The Zunyi meeting refers to the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held in Zunyi, Guizhou from January 15 to 17, 1935 during the Long March.This meeting focused on discussing and correcting military and organizational mistakes, ended the rule of Wang Ming's "Left" adventurism in the Party Central Committee, and established the correct leadership of the new Central Committee represented by Mao Zedong. At the critical moment, the Red Army was saved and the Party was saved. [19] Kaifeng, that is, He Kequan (1906-1955), was born in Pingxiang, Jiangxi.At that time, he was an alternate member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, secretary of the Central Bureau of the Youth League, and representative of the Central Committee of the Ninth Red Army.