Chapter 35 Conversation with representatives of the press and publishing industry [1]

(March 10, 1957) You say that your own level of Marxism is low, and you have no doubts about running a newspaper in a socialist society.Now there are countless things in my heart, and I will gradually know them.At the beginning of everything, there is always something in mind.Before we fought guerrilla warfare, we didn't even think about it. Later, when we were cornered, we had to fight, so we had to bite the bullet and fight on.Of course, fighting a war is not fun, but after fighting, you will get familiar with it.For the emerging problems, who knows what? I don't know much either.Take the Korean War as an example. Fighting U.S. imperialism is different from fighting Japanese imperialism. At the beginning, I had no idea about it. After one or two battles, I knew it well.Now we have to deal with the contradictions among the people, unlike the class struggle in the past (of course there are some class struggles mixed in), it is natural to have a lot of doubts.It doesn't matter if there are countless numbers, we can study the problem carefully.There are so many books on socialism, but there were no books teaching people how to implement socialism concretely at the time of the Russian Socialist Revolution; there were also some books that wrote about everything in socialist society, but that was fantasy socialism, not scientific socialism.Some things haven't happened yet. Although they can be expected, it doesn't mean that we can put forward specific policies and methods for solving them.

Speaking of insufficient cultivation of Marxism, this is a common problem, and the only way to solve this problem is to study hard.Of course, learning is voluntary.I heard that some writers dislike Marxism very much, saying that with it, it would be difficult to write novels.I think this is also a "conditioned reflex".Everything is old. If you get used to the new, you won't be able to penetrate it, because the old suppresses the new.It is said that after learning Marxism, it is difficult to write novels, probably because Marxism conflicts with their old ideas, so they cannot write anything.

It is very necessary to promote the study of Marxism among intellectuals. We must encourage everyone to study him for ten or eight years. If you learn a lot of Marxism, you will push out old ideas.But study of Marxism also needs to form the atmosphere, without the atmosphere, one cannot learn well. At present, there are two ideological biases: one is dogmatism, and the other is Right opportunism.The characteristic of right-leaning opportunism is to deny everything, while dogmatism beats back anyone who has doubts and affirms everything.Both dogmatism and Right opportunism are one-sided, and both use metaphysical thinking methods to observe and understand problems one-sidedly and in isolation.Of course, it is difficult to completely avoid one-sidedness.One-sidedness in thinking methods has something to do with not studying Marxism well.We have to spend ten or eight years studying Marxism diligently and gradually abandon the metaphysical way of thinking.In that way, our mental outlook may be very different.

This criticism of the film [2] is very beneficial, but the film bureau is not open enough. Their articles tend to affirm everything. Once people criticize, they close the door firmly.I see the issues raised by most critical essays as useful for reforming our films.I don't like to watch the current movies, of course there are good ones, don't deny everything.The film bureau must accept any criticism that is factual, otherwise film work cannot be improved.The articles published in your newspapers were mostly criticized in the first period, and affirmed in the second period. Now you can organize the articles to unify them, affirm the good ones and criticize the bad ones.It is wrong for the film bureau to ignore it.This controversy has exposed the problem to the benefit of both the film bureau and the people who wrote the article.

Your newspaper is very lively, with some music, chess, calligraphy and painting, I like to read it too.Young people don't have to watch it if they don't like it, each has its own "conditional reflex".A kind of thing, not necessarily everyone likes to watch. You can publish some of the letters from the masses, give it a try.If the government and relevant business departments have different opinions, the newspaper office can study and discuss with them, explain it in the newspaper, and see the result.I'm afraid it's not good to not register at all, so the business department will commit bureaucracy and fail to improve its work.

Newspapers must have leaders, but the leaders must suit the objective situation.Marxism acts according to objective conditions, and objective conditions include objective effects.If the masses like to watch it, it proves that the leadership is good; if the masses don't like to watch it, the leadership is not so good, right? There are correct leaders and there are incorrect leaders.Correct leadership acts in accordance with objective conditions, conforms to reality, and is welcomed by the masses; incorrect leadership does not act in accordance with objective conditions, is divorced from reality, and divorced from the masses.If the editors feel that they are not free, and the people who edit the newspapers do not like to read it, this leadership must be a dogmatic leader.We must oppose dogmatism.We have carried out rectification for several years in the past, criticized dogmatism, and acted independently in accordance with the spirit and essence of Marxism, and only then did we win the victory of the Chinese revolution.

It doesn't matter if the newspaper has some specialization, like Ta Kung Pao [3], when the free market is open, I like to read it, because it publishes a lot of things like this, and it publishes quickly.However, if it is too professional, sometimes it is easy to be boring, and people will be less interested in watching it.Professionals also need to look at things other than their majors. Newspapers in socialist countries are always better than newspapers in capitalist countries.Although some newspapers in Hong Kong are not as ideological as we said, they are not very interesting. What they say is untrue, exaggerated, and spreads poison.Our newspapers are less poisonous and beneficial to the people.The article in the newspaper, "shorter, shorter, and then shorter" is correct, "softer, softer, and softer" needs to be considered.Don't be too hard, people don't like to see it if it is too hard, you can unify the two things of soft and hard.The article is written in a popular and friendly way, from the small to the big, from the near to the far, and fascinating, which is very good.It is not good to run a newspaper with a straight face.Do you agree or disagree with Lu Xun? Lu Xun's articles are not too soft, but they are not too hard and not ugly.Some people say that essays are difficult to write, and this is where the difficulty lies.Some people ask, what will happen if Lu Xun is alive now? I think Lu Xun is alive, and he dares to write or not.Under the abnormal atmosphere, he will not write, but it is more likely that he will write.As the saying goes: "If you are willing to cut yourself to pieces, you dare to pull the emperor off his horse." Lu Xun is a true Marxist and a thorough materialist.A true Marxist, a thorough materialist, is fearless, so he will write.Now some writers dare not write, there are two situations: one situation is that we have not created an environment for them to dare to write, and they are afraid of being punished; the other situation is that they themselves have not learned materialism well.If you are a thorough materialist, you dare to write.In Lu Xun's era, being punished meant sitting in prison and beheading, but Lu Xun was not afraid.I don’t have any experience in how to write essays today. I think Lu Xun should be brought out, everyone can learn from him, and study it carefully.His essays cover many aspects, including politics, literature, art, etc. Especially in the later period, politics was the most talked about, but economics was missing.Everything about Lu Xun was forced out.His Marxism is also forced to learn.He came from a scholarly family, and people said he was a "remnant of feudalism" and that he was not good enough, but Lu Xun still wrote.Now you can also write essays on economics.The quality of an article depends on the effect, and conclusions have been made based on the effect since ancient times.

Is the news from Xinhua News Agency popular? I heard that some of you have raised the issue of whether the news from the news agency is class-oriented.Before classes are eliminated, news from news agencies or newspapers has class characteristics.The "freedom of the press" that the bourgeoisie calls is a lie, and there are no completely objective reports.News agencies and newspapers in the United States are now also reporting on the economic construction of the new China. They want to do business, so they make some gestures for others to see, because the economic crisis is oppressing it.

When launching criticisms in newspapers, you must prepare stairs for others, otherwise they will be surrounded by the masses and they will not be able to go downstairs.The same goes for fighting bureaucracy. At the time of the "Three Antis" [4], many ministers were brought downstairs by the central government with ladders.In the past, it was necessary to engage in sports, and it was impossible not to engage in it, but it would hurt too many people, so we should learn a lesson.It is not in the interests of the majority of the people to engage in great democracy now.Some people always want to use great democracy to others, and want to punish others, but when it comes to punishing themselves, the smaller the democracy, the better.In my opinion, in literature, journalism, etc., we need to use small democracy to solve problems. Adding the word "small" to small democracy means drizzle, non-stop.

When it comes to running newspapers, the Communist Party is not as good as non-Party people.The history of running a newspaper in Yan'an is also very short, and there is no experience in running a national newspaper.This is true for running schools, publishing, and scientific research.There are about five million intellectuals in the whole country, and the Communist Party member among them is just a little finger.It is half true to say that the Communist Party cannot lead science.Now we are laymen leading experts, and what we are doing is administrative leadership and political leadership.As for specific science and technology, such as geology, the Communist Party does not understand.But the KMT doesn't understand either.The Kuomintang has only cultivated more than 200 geologists for more than 20 years in power, and we have trained more than 10,000 geologists in the seven years since liberation.This situation of administrative leadership, in the current transitional period, has to be like this, and it will change in the future.Now we must strive for more than 80 percent of the intellectuals in the intermediate state to learn Marxism, requiring them to have a preliminary understanding of Marxism, rather than requiring them to master it all at once.The creator of Marxism, Marx himself, did not understand everything at once.The publication of the "Communist Manifesto" in 1848 was only the beginning of the formation of the Marxist system, not the completion of the Marxist system.It is unrealistic to ask all intellectuals to accept Marxism at once.It is said that people understand Marxism, but the degree of understanding varies.I don't read many Marxist books.As an expert, we need to read more. We don’t have so much time, so we can read less. The important thing is to pay attention to research methods.Now many cadres do not have the habit of reading, and devote their remaining energy to playing poker, watching theaters, and dancing.You shouldn't waste your time.

Concrete analysis is required for specific issues, and the same is true for the speed of news.For some news, it is not a matter of fast and slow progress, but not at all.For example, the land reform news is like this. We do not publicize it in the newspaper, so as not to spread some immature and wrong experiences.At the end of the previous year, Beijing realized the public-private partnership of the whole industry in a few days and announced that it would enter socialism. At first, it had to think carefully about such news, but when it was broadcast later, all localities regardless of their own specific conditions started to work at once, and they were very passive. Criticism on problems among the people can also be sharp.I would also like to write some articles for the newspaper, but only if I resign as chairman.I can set up a column in the newspaper and be a columnist.The article must be sharp, and the knife can cut the paper, but it should be sharp enough to help people rather than hurt them. Regarding the contention of a hundred schools of thought, it is completely academic, and it will not have any impact if it is argued in the newspapers.As for the policy, I am afraid we have to distinguish the situation.But it is also difficult to draw a scope because there are so many policies.For example, when there are too many articles about the promotion of birth control and late marriage that you mentioned, some people think that the marriage law needs to be amended and get married as soon as possible.In this way, newspapers are also difficult to manage.In the old society, ordinary people read something in the newspaper as if they didn't read it, but now it's different when it's published in the newspaper.If you find some adverse consequences in the propaganda, you can write an article to explain it, but the articles in our newspaper are often not timely.As for how to divide the scope, each newspaper can go back and study on its own. Published based on the transcript of the conversation kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] This is the main part of Mao Zedong's conversation with some representatives of the press and publishing industry during the National Propaganda Work Conference of the Communist Party of China. [2] Refers to some of the criticisms raised during a discussion on film issues in the Shanghai Wen Wei Po.This discussion started in November 1956 and lasted for nearly three months. It involved the guiding ideology of film art, the leadership method and style of film work, the film censorship system, the use and backlog of actors, and the tradition of film art. Inheritance and film and audience issues. [3] Refers to Shanghai Ta Kung Pao. [4] "Three Antis", see note [3] on page 172 of this volume.