The Whole Country Should Become a Great School of Mao Tse-tung’s Thought
— In Commemoration of the 39th Anniversary of the
Founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army
[This article is reprinted from Peking Review , Vol. 9, #32, Aug. 5,
1966, pp. 6-7. Thanks are due to the WWW.WENGEWANG.ORG
web site for some of the work done for this posting.]
FULL 39 years have elapsed since the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
This great people’s army founded by Comrade Mao Tse-tung himself and directly led by him has always maintained and carried forward the glorious tradition of being “at the same time a fighting force, a working force and a production force” throughout the past decades — both in the protracted and arduous fighting against the class enemy at home and abroad during the years of revolutionary wars, and, since the nationwide victory, in the course of shouldering the task of defending and building up the socialist motherland and safeguarding peace in the Far East and the whole world. In recent years, in accordance with the instructions of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the Military Commission of the Party’s Central Committee and Comrade Lin Piao, the Liberation Army has held aloft the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung’s thought, undertaken the creative study and application of Chairman Mao’s works, vigorously given prominence to proletarian politics, developed the “three-eight” working style,* participated in the socialist education movement and the great proletarian cultural revolution, taken part and helped in socialist construction, and made another big stride forward along the road to becoming an even more highly proletarianized, revolutionized and militant army.
The masses of people in our country have always seen the Liberation Army as an example from which to learn. Since 1964, in response to the great call of Comrade Mao Tse-tung, the people throughout the country have set going an enthusiastic movement for learning in a big way from the Liberation Army. This has played a tremendous role in advancing our country’s socialist revolution and socialist construction.
Comrade Mao Tse-tung recently pointed out: The People’s Liberation Army should be a great school. In this great school, our armymen should learn politics, military affairs and culture. They can also engage in agricultural production and side occupations, run some medium-sized or small factories and manufacture a number of products to meet their own needs or for exchange with the state at equal values. They can also do mass work and take part in the socialist education movement in the factories and villages. After the socialist education movement is over, they can always find mass work to do, so that the army will for ever be at one with the masses. They should also participate in the struggles of the cultural revolution to criticize the bourgeoisie whenever they occur. In this way, the army can concurrently study, engage in agriculture, run factories and do mass work. Of course, these tasks should be properly co-ordinated, and a distinction should be made between the primary and secondary tasks. Each army unit should engage in one or two of the three fields of activity — agriculture, industry and mass work, but not in all three at the same time. In this way, our army of several million will he able to play a very great role indeed.
It has been Comrade Mao Tse-tung’s consistent idea that the people’s army should be run as a great school of revolution. We did so in the past. Now, in the light of the new conditions, Comrade Mao Tse-tung has put higher demands on the Liberation Army.
Comrade Mao Tse-tung has called on the people of the whole country to turn China’s factories, rural people’s communes, schools, trading undertakings, service trades and Party and government organizations into great schools for revolutionization like the Liberation Army.
Comrade Mao Tse-tung has pointed out:
While the main activity of the workers is in industry, they should at the same time also study military affairs, politics and culture. They, too, should take part in the socialist education movement and in criticizing the bourgeoisie. Where conditions permit, they should also engage in agricultural production and side occupations, as is done at the Taching Oilfield.
While the main activity of the peasants in the communes is in agriculture (including forestry, animal husbandry, side occupations and fisheries), they, too, should at the same time study military affairs, politics and culture. Where conditions permit, they should also collectively run some small factories. They should also criticize the bourgeoisie.
This holds good for students too. While their main task is to study, they should in addition to their studies, learn other things, that is, industrial work, farming and military affairs. They should also criticize the bourgeoisie. The period of schooling should be shortened, education should be revolutionized, and the domination of our schools by bourgeois intellectuals should by no means be allowed to continue.
Where conditions permit, those working in commerce, in the service trades and in Party and government organizations should also do the same.
This brilliant idea of Comrade Mao Tse-tung is of great historic significance.
Comrade Mao Tse-tung has summed up all of China’s experience in socialist revolution and socialist construction, studied all the experience of the international proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat since the October Revolution, in particular drawing serious lessons from the carrying out of the restoration of capitalism by the Khrushchev revisionist clique in the Soviet Union, and has creatively provided the scientific answers to the questions of how to prevent a restoration of capitalism, consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and guarantee the gradual transition to communism.
The idea set forth by Comrade Mao Tse-tung that every field of work should be made Into a great school for revolutionization, where people take part both in industry and agriculture, in military as well as civilian affairs — such is our programme.
By acting in accordance with what Comrade Mao Tse-tung has said, it will be possible to elevate the proletarian ideology of our people very considerably, push forward the revolutionization of people’s thinking, and help them to break away from all the old ideology, culture, customs and habits surviving from the old society. Hence it will be possible to build socialism with still greater, faster, better and more economical results, and more quickly root out the social and ideological bases for capitalism and revisionism.
By acting in accordance with what Comrade Mao Tse-tung has said, it will be possible to promote the step-by-step narrowing of the gap between workers and peasants, town and countryside and mental and manual labour; to prevent abnormal urban and industrial development; to enable intellectuals to become at the same time manual workers and manual workers at the same time intellectuals; and to train hundreds of millions of new communist people who have a high degree of political consciousness and are developed in an all-round way.
By acting in accordance with what Comrade Mao Tse-tung has said, it will be possible to turn all the people into soldiers and greatly strengthen our combat preparedness. Should imperialism dare to invade us, it will be drowned in the great ocean of people’s war.
By acting in accordance with what Comrade Mao Tse-tung has said, the 700 million people of our country will all become critics of the old world as well as builders and defenders of the new world. With hammer in hand they will be able to do factory work, with hoe, plough or harrow they will be able to do farming, with the gun they will be able to fight the enemy, and with the pen they will be able to express themselves in writing.
In this way, the whole country will be a great school of Mao Tse-tung’s thought, a great school of communism.
It is in accordance with this idea of Comrade Mao Tse-tung that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has worked in the last few decades and is still continuously developing and improving itself. The Liberation Army is the best great school for studying Mao Tse-tung’s thought. All factories, rural people’s communes, schools, shops, service trades, and Party and government organizations in the country must follow the example set by the Liberation Army and turn themselves into great schools of Mao Tse-tung’s thought.
The broad masses of the workers, peasants and soldiers, the revolutionary cadres and revolutionary intellectuals, and all members of the Communist Party should draw inexhaustible strength, wisdom and courage from this brilliant instruction of Comrade Mao Tse-tung, and struggle to fulfil the great historic task put forward by the Party and Comrade Mao Tse-tung.
(“Remnin Ribao” editorial, August 1.)
- The “three-eight” working style (which in Chinese is written in three phrases and eight additional characters) means firm, correct political orientation; a plain, hard-working style; flexibility in strategy and tactics; and unity, altertness, earnestness and liveliness.
全国都应该成为毛泽东思想的大学校
──纪念中国人民解放军建军三十九周年
《人民日报》编辑部
1966.08.01
中国人民解放军成立到今天，已经三十九周年了。
毛泽东同志亲手缔造和直接领导的这支伟大的人民军队，几十年来，在革命战争年代，在同国内外阶级敌人长期艰苦的战斗中，在全国胜利以后，在担负保卫和建设社会主义祖国、保卫远东和世界和平的任务中，一直保持和发扬了“既是战斗队，又是工作队，又是生产队”的光荣传统。近几年来，解放军根据党中央、中央军委和林彪同志的指示，高举毛泽东思想伟大红旗，活学活用毛主席著作，大力突出无产阶级政治，发扬三八作风，参加社会主义教育运动和无产阶级文化大革命，参加和支援社会主义建设，在无产阶级化、革命化、战斗化的道路上，又大大迈进了一步。
我国人民群众历来都把解放军作为学习的榜样。一九六四年以来，全国人民响应毛泽东同志的伟大号召，掀起了大学解放军的热潮。这对推动我国社会主义革命和社会主义建设，发挥了巨大的作用。
最近，毛泽东同志指出：人民解放军应该是一个大学校。这个大学校，要学政治，学军事，学文化，又能从事农副业生产，又能办一些中小工厂，生产自己需要的若干产品和与国家等价交换的产品。这个大学校，又能从事群众工作，参加工厂、农村的社会主义教育运动；社会主义教育运动完了，随时都有群众工作可做，使军民永远打成一片；又要随时参加批判资产阶级的文化革命斗争。这样，军学、军农、军工、军民这几项都可以兼起来。当然，要调配适当，要有主有从，农、工、民三项，一个部队只能兼一项或两项，不能同时都兼起来。这样，几百万军队所起的作用就是很大的了。
把人民的军队办成革命的大学校，这是毛泽东同志的一贯的思想。我们过去就是这样做的。现在，毛泽东同志根据新的情况，又对解放军提出了更高的要求。
毛泽东同志号召全国人民，把我国的工厂、农村人民公社、学校、商业、服务行业、党政机关也都要象解放军那样，办成革命化的大学校。
毛泽东同志指出：
工人以工为主，也要兼学军事、政治、文化。也要搞社会主义教育运动，也要批判资产阶级。在有条件的地方，也要从事农副业生产，例如大庆油田那样。
公社农民以农为主（包括林、牧、副、渔），也要兼学军事、政治、文化。在有条件的时候，也要由集体办些小工厂，也要批判资产阶级。
学生也是这样，以学为主，兼学别样，即不但学文，也要学工、学农、学军，也要批判资产阶级。学制要缩短，教育要革命，资产阶级知识分子统治我们学校的现象，再也不能继续下去了。
商业、服务行业、党政机关工作人员，凡有条件的，也要这样做。
毛泽东同志这个光辉的思想，具有伟大的历史意义。
毛泽东同志总结了我国社会主义革命和社会主义建设的各种经验，研究了十月革命以来国际无产阶级革命和无产阶级专政的各种经验，特别是吸取了苏联赫鲁晓夫修正主义集团实行资本主义复辟的严重教训，创造性地对如何防止资本主义复辟、巩固无产阶级专政、保证逐步向共产主义过渡这些问题，作出了科学的答案。
毛泽东同志提出的各行各业都要办成亦工亦农，亦文亦武的革命化大学校的思想，就是我们的纲领。
按照毛泽东同志所说的去做，就可以大大提高我国人民的无产阶级意识，促进人们的思想革命化，促进人们同旧社会遗留下来的一切旧思想、旧文化、旧风俗、旧习惯决裂。从而能够进一步又多又快又好又省地建设社会主义，能够更快地铲除资本主义、修正主义的社会基础和思想基础。
按照毛泽东同志所说的去做，就可以促进逐步缩小工农差别、城乡差别、体力劳动和脑力劳动的差别，就可以避免城市和工业的畸形发展，就可以使知识分子劳动化，劳动人民知识化，就可以培养出有高度政治觉悟的、全面发展的亿万共产主义新人。
按照毛泽东同志说的去做，就可以实现全民皆兵，大大加强我们的战备工作。帝国主义胆敢侵犯我们，就会被淹没在人民战争的汪洋大海之中。
按照毛泽东同志说的去做，我国七亿人民就都会成为旧世界的批判者，新世界的建设者和保卫者。他们拿起锤子就能做工，拿起锄头犁耙就能种田，拿起枪杆子就能打敌人，拿起笔杆子就能写文章。
这样，全国就都是毛泽东思想的大学校，都是共产主义的大学校。
中国人民解放军，几十年来就是按照毛泽东同志的这一思想办事的，现在还在不断发展提高。解放军是最好的学习毛泽东思想的大学校。全国的工厂、农村人民公社、学校、商店、服务行业、党政机关，都要以解放军为榜样，办成毛泽东思想的大学校。
广大的工农兵群众、革命干部和革命的知识分子，所有的共产党员，都要从毛泽东同志的这个英明指示中，吸取无穷的力量、智慧和勇气，为实现党和毛泽东同志提出的伟大历史任务而斗争。＊
（《人民日报》一九六六年八月一日， 社论）