Collected Writings, Vol 3: On Policy, Practice and Contradiction

by Mao Zedong, Shawn Conners (Editor)

Mao Zedong (also known as Mao Tse-tung) is regarded as one of the most controversial figures in modern world history. Having conquered the country, he ruled the People's Republic of China from its establishment as a Communist state in 1949 until the time of his death in 1976. Brilliant and ruthless, his legacy includes guerrilla warfare tactics, violent cultural revolutions, and enduring Communist propaganda. He was named one of the 100 most influential figures of the 20th century by "Time Magazine."
Eric Margolis of the "Huffington Post" writes of Chairman Mao:
" "Mao was an accomplished poet, writer and historian, a profound thinker, and a superb military strategist. He crushed the US-backed Nationalist's 4.3-million strong armies in a series of titanic battles, forcing his rival, Chiang Kai-shek, to flee to Taiwan... The Great Helmsman united fractured, war-torn China, restoring its pride and self-confidence after two centuries of humiliation. Mao thwarted both Soviet and U.S. efforts to turn China into a client state, and built up China's military power... Mao's aides dared not tell him millions were starving. Red Emperor Mao was prodigal with his people's lives, and, according to aides who were close to him, was shockingly indifferent to their suffering. Mao horrified even brutal Soviet leaders by saying he was prepared to lose half his people to emerge victorious from a nuclear war...""
The third volume in this special collection contains five important lectures and essays by Chairman Mao:
*Part 1 - On Policy
*Part 2 - On Practice
*Part 3 - On Contradiction
*Part 4 - On New Democracy
*Part 5 - On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People
Excerpt from "Collected Writings of Chairman Mao - On Policy, Practice and Contradiction" by Mao Zedong
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Above all, Marxists regard man's activity in production as the most fundamental practical activity, the determinant of all his other activities. Man's knowledge depends mainly on his activity in material production, through which he comes gradually to understand the phenomena, the properties and the laws of nature, and the relations between himself and nature; and through his activity in production he also gradually comes to understand, in varying degrees, certain relations that exist between man and man. None of this knowledge can be acquired apart from activity in production. In a classless society every person, as a member of society, joins in common effort with the other members, enters into definite relations of production with them and engages in production to meet man's material needs. In all class societies, the members of the different social classes also enter, in different ways, into definite relations of production and engage in production to meet their material needs. This is the primary source from which human knowledge develops.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy

235 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 2010

About the author

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung, and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, statesman and leader of the Chinese Revolution. He was the architect and founding father of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949, and held control over the nation until his death in 1976. His theoretical contribution to Marxism–Leninism, along with his military strategies and brand of policies, are collectively known as Maoism.

Mao rose to power by commanding the Long March, forming a Second United Front with Kuomintang (KMT) during the Second Sino-Japanese War to repel a Japanese invasion, and later led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's KMT in the Chinese Civil War. Mao established political and military control over most of the territory formerly contained within the Chinese Empire and launched a campaign to suppress counterrevolutionaries. He sent the Communist People's Liberation Army into Xinjiang and Tibet but was unable to oust the remnants of the Nationalist Party from Taiwan. He enacted sweeping land reform by using violence and terror to overthrow landlords before seizing their large estates and dividing the land into people's communes. The Communist Party's final victory came after decades of turmoil in China, which included the Great Depression, a brutal invasion by Japan and a protracted civil war. Mao's Communist Party ultimately achieved a measure of stability in China, though Mao's efforts to close China to trade and market commerce, and eradicate traditional Chinese culture, have been largely rejected by his successors.

Mao styled himself "The Great Helmsman" and supporters continue to contend that he was responsible for some positive changes which came to China during his three decade rule. These included doubling the school population, providing universal housing, abolishing unemployment and inflation, increasing health care access, and dramatically raising life expectancy. A cult of personality grew up around Mao, and community dissent was not permitted. His Communist Party still rules in mainland China, retains control of media and education there and officially celebrates his legacy. As a result, Mao is still officially held in high regard by many Chinese as a great political strategist, military mastermind, and savior of the nation. Maoists promote his role as a theorist, statesman, poet, and visionary, and anti-revisionists continue to defend most of his policies.

Reviews

[Kiet Tuan Hoang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opposite to how knowledge was safe-guarded from the common people, Mao’s intention when writing these short essays was to enlighten the common people in the Chinese Communist Party on his philosophy on practice, contradictions, and policy. Through concrete examples rooted in the material world, Mao shows his view on knowledge, and how practice is the source, test, and ultimately the final judge on whether this knowledge but also policy is the truth. A core focus of this book is on class struggle, and how by using practice, one can identify contradictions for change which is the tool for understanding any situation. Lastly, policy is the practical output based on that analysis. The prose is generally simple and easy to understand despite the heavy philosophical theme from dialectical materialism which I had no previous knowledge of before starting. In contrast to other pure philosophical texts, these essays are written as more of a practical manual of methods which leads to this book being more accessible than many other texts.

Generally, a very good introductionary entryway into Mao's thought. Though I did not give it a higher rating as there are quite a lot of concepts which I am not familiar with in terms of dialectical materialism, it could probably score higher if one actually knew basic Marxism before picking up this book.

But honestly I do not know. Im potato.

[Scotty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of this is solely relevant to the period in which Mao rose to power but there is some good stuff near the end.

"To consolodate the dictatorship of the proletariat or the dictatorship of the people is in fact to prepare the conditions for abolishing this dictatorship and advancing to the higher stage when all state systems are eliminated. To establish and build the Communist Party is in fact to prepare the conditions for the elimination of the Communist Party and all political parties. To build a revolutionary army under the leadership of the Communist Party and to carry on revolutionary war is in fact to prepare the conditions for the permanent elimination of war." - Mao, On Contradiction