Chapter 23 "Be not a reckless man, be a brave and wise hero"

Mao Zedong studied in northern Shaanxi, of course, not for research, but for in-depth and systematic thinking about the Chinese revolution, so that his comrades can also master ideological weapons. Guo Huaruo, who worked next to Mao Zedong in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, once recalled: "One time I went to Chairman Mao's office and saw a "Tutorial on Dialectical Materialism" on the desktop. The side commentary with ink and small print is all about the experience and lessons of the struggle between the Chinese revolutions. This made me initially understand that Chairman Mao used the Marxist-Leninist standpoint, viewpoint, and method to analyze the problems of the Chinese revolution, and put the practice of the Chinese revolution into practice. experience to the theoretical level to enrich and develop Marxism-Leninism."

Mao Zedong's first philosophical achievements after studying hard were "On Practice" and "On Contradiction". The "Two Theories" profoundly expounded the principle of proceeding from reality and combining theory with practice, and particularly brilliantly developed the ideas of the dynamic revolutionary reflection theory and the law of the unity of opposites, and proposed that "a correct understanding often needs to go through many failures." Only then can it be obtained”, truth awareness is not a thought that can be completed at one time. "Two Treatises" are two great philosophical works, but they are not purely speculative philosophy.In the two works, Mao Zedong took the major events and important historical experiences that occurred during the Chinese revolution as the object of analysis, and analyzed philosophical issues from them.He used the changes in class relations in each stage of the Chinese revolution and the victories and failures of the revolution in each stage as examples to study the particularity of contradictions in each stage of development of things; he emphasized the need for specific analysis of specific issues and opposed the subjectivity and one-sidedness of cognition and superficiality.Based on the principle of the relationship between cognition and practice and the principle of the particularity and universality of contradictions in Marxist philosophy, Mao Zedong made a comprehensive and profound discussion on the correct ideological line of combining the universal truth of Marxism with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution. philosophical argument.

The "Two Comments" analyzed and criticized the subjectivist mistakes that had occurred within the party from a philosophical perspective. Mao Zedong revealed the ideological roots of "left" and right opportunism, and pointed out that all "left" and right erroneous ideas are characterized by the separation of subjectivity and objectivity, and the separation of cognition and practice.In order to illustrate vividly, Mao Zedong used metaphors.He said: The Right opportunists in history could not see that the struggle of contradictions had pushed the objective process forward, and their understanding remained at the original stage, unable to advance with the changed objective situation.Their thinking is divorced from social practice, and they cannot stand in front of the wheels of society to act as guides. They just follow behind the car and complain that it goes too fast, and they all pull it back and drive it in reverse.

As for the "Left" adventurists, their thinking has surpassed a certain stage of development of the objective process. Some regard fantasies as truth, while others regard ideals that are only realistically possible in the future and force them to be done in the present, leaving the present. The practice of most people is divorced from current realities. "Left" dogmatists are lazy people. They refuse to do any hard research work on specific things, absolutize, solidify and formulate Marxist theory, and regard thousands of different things as indistinguishable and absolutely identical things. Use a fixed formula to resolve conflicts and deal with problems.These erroneous tendencies have brought serious harm.

Mao Zedong also pointed out that the "left" and right opportunists split the relationship between opposition and unity, struggle and identity.On the issue of the united front, the Right opportunists want to unite and not struggle; the "Left" opportunists only want to struggle and not unite.This metaphysical way of thinking either leads to capitulationism or closed-doorism. In the "Two Theories", Mao Zedong correctly expounded the dialectical relationship between opposition and unity, struggle and identity, and by discussing these philosophical categories, he achieved the criticism of "left" and right opportunism, and established a new anti-Japanese national united front for the Chinese Communist Party at that time. Policy provides a philosophical basis.

The purpose of Mao Zedong writing "Two Essays" is to solve the practical problems of the Chinese revolution, to apply the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism to the practice of the Chinese revolution, to criticize subjectivism, especially dogmatism, and to educate the whole party to master the principles of Marxism-Leninism. Learn the universal principles and learn to apply the positions, viewpoints and methods of Marxism-Leninism in practice. For this reason, Mao Zedong paid attention to popularizing Marxist philosophy, linking profound philosophical theories with politics, society, science, and life that people care about, and explaining it in a simple and simple way to make it easy for people to understand.

During more than three months from April 1937 to the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Mao Zedong spent more than 100 hours lecturing "Dialectical Materialism" ("On Practice" and "On Contradiction" are parts of it) to the students of the Anti-Japanese University. He often Make boring and difficult theories vivid and interesting.Once, Mao Zedong explained to the students the opposition between materialism and idealism. He said: "Materialism is to proceed from reality and act honestly according to the actual situation. The road has to be walked, people have to eat, and guns can kill people Yes, this is common sense.

"But the 'Left' opportunists are subjectivists. They don't understand these things. It seems that the road can be reached without people walking. People don't have to eat. Cannons don't kill people. They take blind risks. This is not revolution. It is ruining the revolution. Some of our comrades do not analyze and study the situation, and they get excited when they are encouraged. A brave and wise hero." This inspired everyone to think and discuss. Since then, "Don't be a reckless person, but be a brave and wise hero" has become the motto of the students.

Once again, Mao Zedong gave a lecture on "On Contradiction" to the members of the Anti-University.In order to let everyone understand the word "contradiction", Mao Zedong made an analogy: "Contradiction is 'fighting'. Everything in the world is fighting. You must defeat me, and I will defeat you. Fight each other. This is the contradiction of things. " While talking, the bricklayer began to repair the house on the roof, knocking non-stop.Mao Zedong looked at it, and then said: "We are also fighting with the bricklayer. We need a quiet environment for class, but he is beating on the roof. We have class, and he wants to work. This is a contradiction."

Mao Zedong went on to say: "There are two kinds of thoughts in a person's mind, and they often fight..." Extended in this way, even if the students who attend the lectures do not have a high level of education, they can suddenly understand these basic philosophical issues, connect them with reality, understand the party's development history, experience and lessons, and receive a profound education. Zhou Enlai once commented on Mao Zedong in this way: "Chairman Mao made the universal truth concrete and realized it on the soil of China. Instead, "go through the process of education, the process of persuasion, and sometimes the process of waiting" to "make this truth accepted by everyone and turn it into strength."

When the vast majority of party members have grasped the truth, then the party will mature.At this time, Mao Zedong was like Zeus in Western mythology who stole the holy fire to benefit mankind, holding high the torch of truth of Marxism and spreading the torch of truth.