Chapter 16 Mao Zedong Advocated "Small Democracy" - Rectification Movement

Soon, the Poznan incident occurred, and Gomulka came to power in Poland. Soon, the Hungarian incident occurred, and Najib came to power in Hungary and then stepped down. Mao Zedong's gaze focused on Eastern Europe.He felt more and more that Khrushchev's secret report-the serious consequences of promoting de-Stalinization. At the end of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mao Zedong once praised Khrushchev: "Comrade Khrushchev opened our eyes, polished our eyes, and enhanced our vision. He finally told us the truth. We also want to carry out reforms."①

Although Khrushchev said at the time that he "always maintained vigilance against him" and said that Mao Zedong's words were "deceiving us" because "Mao Zedong is simply a master of hiding his thoughts and intentions"! However, after the Poland-Hungary incident, Mao Zedong no longer "hidden his thoughts and intentions", and his dissatisfaction with Khrushchev has become increasingly apparent!His dissatisfaction with Gomulka, Nagy, Tito, and Togliatti, the leader of the Italian Communist Party, is becoming more and more apparent!He also expressed dissatisfaction with Kadar!

Mao Zedong even openly expressed his dissatisfaction with the "Twentieth Congress" of the CPSU! Mao Zedong's resentment was concentrated in an important speech he made on November 15, 1956—that was the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He talked about the international situation in front of all members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. and Sino-Soviet relations. Mao Zedong mentioned the incident in Poland and Hungary in this way: "Whether it is Poland or Hungary, since there is fire, it will always burn. Is it better to burn, or not to burn? Paper cannot contain fire. Now that it burns, it will burn. Hungary has So many counter-revolutionaries were exposed at once. The Hungarian incident educated the Hungarian people, and at the same time educated some comrades in the Soviet Union, and also educated our comrades in China. Once Beria appeared, it would be a disaster. How could a socialist country appear Beria? A high post, another surprise. We're going to be educated from these things. Such things are the order of the day, and there always will be."

Mao Zedong compared Gomulka to China's Rao Shushi: "For example, people like us may make mistakes, fail to win the fight, and be pushed down by others, let Gomulka take the stage, and lift Rao Shushi out. Are you saying that there is no such thing? I think it will take a thousand years , There will be more after ten thousand years." Mao Zedong went on to say an extremely important sentence, naming the "Twentieth Congress" of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Khrushchev's name: "We disapprove of some things in the Soviet Union. The Party Central Committee has told them several times. Some issues have not been mentioned, and we will talk about them in the future.  …

"About the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU, I want to say something. I think there are two 'knives': one is Lenin and the other is Stalin. Now, the Russians have lost Stalin's knife. Gomulka Some people in Hungary picked up this knife to kill the Soviet Union and opposed the so-called Stalinism. Communist parties in many European countries also criticized the Soviet Union, and this leader was Togliatti. The imperialists also used this knife to kill people. Dulles (cited Note from the author: The Secretary of State of the United States at that time picked it up and played a game. This knife was not lent out, but thrown out. We did not throw it away in China. Our first point is to protect Stalin, and the second point is also to criticize Stalin’s mistakes , wrote the article "On the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat". We don't vilify Stalin and destroy Stalin like some people do, but act according to the actual situation.

"Has the knife of Lenin been discarded by some leaders of the Soviet Union now? I think it has been discarded quite a lot. Is the October Revolution still effective? Can it still be used as a model for all countries? Ruchev’s report said that power can be obtained through the parliamentary road, which means that countries do not have to learn from the October Revolution. Once this door is opened, Leninism will basically be lost...” This passage of Mao Zedong shows that the difference between him and Khrushchev is a difference of principle. Mao Zedong put forward his insights on the causes of the Poland-Hungary incident:

"The basic problem in some countries in Eastern Europe is that the class struggle has not been done well, so many counter-revolutionaries have not been eliminated, the proletariat has not been trained in the class struggle, the distinction between the enemy and ourselves, the distinction between right and wrong, and the distinction between idealism and materialism. Now, reap the consequences and burn them to death Come on your own head." The foothold of Mao Zedong Thought was in China, and he looked at China from the Poland-Hungary incident.He realized that for China: "Right now, this danger exists. If we are divorced from the masses and do not solve their problems, farmers will carry poles, workers will take to the streets to demonstrate, and students will cause trouble."

Mao Zedong believed that "big democracy" was not advisable to eliminate the danger of the Polish-Hungarian incident in China. He said: "There are a few intellectual cadres at the level of directors and bureau chiefs who advocate big democracy and say that small democracy is not enough. The 'big democracy' they want to implement is to adopt the Western bourgeois parliamentary system and learn from Western 'parliamentary democracy',' Freedom of the press' and 'freedom of speech'. Their views lack a Marxist viewpoint and a class viewpoint, which is wrong. However, the expression of big democracy and small democracy is very vivid, so we will borrow this term."

Mao Zedong advocated the use of "small democracy" to eliminate hidden dangers in China.What is "small democracy"?Mao Zedong said that the Chinese-style "small democracy" is the rectification movement. The rectification movement was launched by the central government in Yan'an in 1942 for the first time. In that rectification movement, it rectified and opposed the "three styles", that is, "rectified the style of study by opposing subjectivism, rectified the style of the party by opposing sectarianism, and rectified the party's stereotyped writing." style of writing".

This time, Mao Zedong decided to use the magic weapon used in Yan'an to solve the new problems facing China. Mao Zedong announced that this time the "Three Styles" will also be rectified.The first two styles to be rectified are the same as in the Yan'an era, except that "opposing stereotyped writing" has been changed to "opposing bureaucracy": "We are going to launch a rectification campaign next year. We will rectify the three styles: first, subjectivism, second, sectarianism, and third, bureaucracy. After the central government makes a decision, it will issue a notice first and launch the project. For example, bureaucracy includes many things: Not seeing cadres and the masses, not going down to understand the situation, not sharing weal and woe with the masses, corruption, waste, etc., if a notice is issued in the first half of the year, rectification in the second half of the year, with a few months in between. . . . , not 'punish if you don't teach', it's a small-democracy approach."

This kind of "small democracy" was already used by Mao Zedong in Yan'an. He made three famous reports in a row, "Reform Our Study", "Rectify the Party's Style of Work", and "Oppose Party Stereotypes", which were listed as classics of the Yan'an rectification movement. literature.Today, the old method is used in the new, with a well-thought-out plan, and the chance to win is sure... Mao Zedong's speech at the Second Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is an important document from 1956 to 1957.It's just that this speech was not published publicly at the time, and it was limited to the top leaders of the CCP, and it was not widely known to outsiders.In fact, it was Mao Zedong who spent nearly ten months thinking about it since the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union before he made such a well-thought-out statement. It should be noted that at the grand "Eighth National Congress" of the Communist Party of China held two months ago, Mao Zedong did not say anything - he just delivered the opening speech politely, and the opening speech was not written by himself, but by his secretary Tian Jiaying simulated. It should be noted that the First Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee was held on September 28, 1956.Only one and a half months later, Mao Zedong convened the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee—it is rare for two plenary sessions to be so close together.Oh, it's time, Mao Zedong just expressed his views and countermeasures on the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Poland-Hungary incident at this meeting. After that, in "Revisiting the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat" published more than a month later (December 19, 1956).Tito's name was named, and he publicly debated with the Yugoslav Communist Party; in the "Differences Between Comrade Togliatti and Us" published six years later (December 15, 1962), Togliatti was named In addition, the differences with the Soviet Communist Party were made public, and a series of polemic articles were published, until the name of Khrushchev was publicly named... It originated from Mao Zedong's speech at the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Since then, the CCP's rectification movement that began in 1957 and the anti-rightist struggle that began thereafter also stemmed from this speech.