NINETEEN seventy-six has arrived. Today witnesses the publication of two poems written by our great leader Chairman Mao in 1965: “Chingkangshan Revisited — to the tune of Shui Tiao Keh Tou” and “Two Birds: A Dialogue — to the tune of Nien Nu Chiao.” Through artistic images which splendidly combine revolutionary realism and revolutionary romanticism, these two brilliant works describe the excellent situation at home and abroad in which “the world is being turned upside down” and “past scenes are. transformed”; they hail the heroism of the revolutionary people who “can clasp; the moon in the Ninth Heaven and seize turtles deep down in the Five Seas”; they set- forth the historical law that Marxism-Leninism is sure to prevail while revisionism is bound to fail. The publication of these’ two poems of Chairman Mao’s is an event of great political and immediate significance and a great inspiration to the people throughout the. country As we stride into the new year reading Chairman Mao’s poems and surveying our vast country and. the revolutionary storms around the world, we are full of emotion and pride and are all the more confident of winning new victories.
Look! “Orioles sing, swallows swirl everywhere.” Through the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the movement to criticize Lin Piao and Confucius, the movement to study the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the criticism of the novel Water Margin, our Party is full of vigour, our people are in high spirits, our country is flourishing, and the dictatorship of the proletariat is stronger than ever. New socialist things are .blooming in profusion throughout our country. The masses of the people of all nationalities are perseveringly studying Marxism-Leninism-Mao . Tsetung Thought; they are deepening their understanding of classes, class struggle and the struggle between the; two lines in socialist society and their awareness of the need to restrict bourgeois right and continue the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. The three-in-one combination of the old; the middle-aged and the .young has invigorated leading bodies at all levels, and millions. of successors to the cause of proletarian revolution are tempering themselves in accordance with the five requirements set by Chairman Mao. The revolution in literature and art exemplified by the model revolutionary theatrical works has resulted in an efflorescence of creative work in socialist literature and art. The revolution in education is advancing in struggle in the direction pointed out by Chairman Mao, and gratifying results have been achieved in the efforts to transform schools into instruments of the dictatorship of the proletariat and bring up workers with both socialist consciousness and culture. The revolution in health work is. overcoming the rural shortage of doctors and medicines, barefoot doctors are steadily maturing, and the co-operative medical system has become more consolidated. By entering May 7 cadre schools, going down to do manual labour and studying afresh, large numbers of cadres have increased their awareness of the need to continue the revolution and regained their revolutionary youthfulness. More than ten million school graduates have gone to the vast countryside where they are persevering in the revolution and growing sturdily. The entry of the working class into institutions of higher education, middle and primary schools and other organizations in the superstructure has put an end to the domination of these organizations by bourgeois intellectuals. The formation and growth of theoretical contingents of workers, peasants and soldiers are pushing the socialist revolution forward on the ideological and cultural fronts. The mass movement to learn from Tachai in agriculture is actively progressing. Hundreds of millions of people have been aroused and a million cadres have gone to the agricultural front line. The revolutionary drive to build Tachai-type counties throughout the country is surging ahead. China has had good harvests for 14 years running. The mass movement to learn from Taching in industry is developing in depth, giving fuller play to the revolutionary spirit of independence and self-reliance and increasing industrial production beyond previous levels. Professional scientific and technical personnel are integrating themselves with workers and peasants and doing scientific research in an open-door way, a man-made earth satellite has been recovered, and science has made further progress, The target for gross industrial and agricultural output set in the Fourth Five-Year Plan has been successfully met. In our country prices are stable, the market is brisk and people’s living standards have been rising steadily.
All this, is a forceful refutation of the fallacy that “the present is not as good as the past.” ’ All this represents a great victory for Chairman Mao’s proletarian revolutionary line and for the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and the movement to criticize Lin Piao and Confucius.
Under the leadership of the Party Central Committee headed by Chairman Mao, the whole Party, the whole army and the people of all nationalities of the country should in the new year adhere to the Party’s basic line, conscientiously study the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat, take class struggle as the key link, continue to implement Chairman Mao’s important instructions, advance the socialist revolution in all spheres of the superstructure, promote stability and unity, accelerate the development of socialist agriculture and industry and the entire economy, and strive. to further consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Chairman Mao has taught us; “Never forget classes and class struggle.”
Recently Chairman Mao has again taught us: "Stability and unity do not mean writing off class struggle; class struggle is the key link and everything else hinges on it.”
Taking class struggle as the key link — this has been Chairman Mao’s fundamental theory and practice in leading our Party in carrying out the socialist revolution over the past 20 years and more. As Chairman Mao pointed out once again in 1965 when criticizing Liu Shao-chi’s revisionist line, “Class contradiction, the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie and the struggle between the socialist road and the capitalist road exist throughout the transitional period. We shall go astray if we forget this fundamental theory and practice of our Party over the last dozen years or so.” Many years of historical experience show that negating or revising the principle of taking class struggle as the key link is bound to lead to mistakes in theory and practice. The struggle between the two lines — to practise Marxism or to practise revisionism — is the reflection within the Party of the struggle between the two classes and between the two roads. The recent farrago on the educational front, representing a Right deviationist wind to reverse previous, verdicts, is a conspicuous manifestation of the revisionist line that stands’ against the proletariat on behalf of the bourgeoisie. This shows once again that class struggle long and tortuous and at times very acute in socialist society. We should remain sober-minded, persevere in our proletarian struggle against the bourgeoisie and never for a moment forget the key link, class struggle. Only when the key link is grasped will everything fall into place. In criticizing the eclectic view that puts politics on a par with economics. Lenin said: “Politics cannot but have precedence over economics. To argue differently means forgetting the A B C of Marxism.” What is politics? Lenin said: “Politics means a struggle between classes.” If one forgets the key link, class struggle, one will be a blind, half-baked and muddle-headed revolutionary. and depart from the socialist orientation.
How to assess the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution — this is a concentrated reflection of the current struggle between the two classes, the two roads and the two lines. Both the Ninth and Tenth Congresses of the Party definitively appraised the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. To approve or negate this great revolution is in essence, a struggle between continuing the revolution on the one hand and restoration and retrogression on the other. This struggle will go on for a long time. Our cadres must continue to study the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat, carry on criticism of the novel Water Margin, restudy Chairman Mao’s instructions on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, gain a deep understanding of the fact that the principal contradiction in socialist society is the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, a deep understanding of these two classes. and the class struggle between them and of the character, target, task and prospects of the socialist revolution, and consciously grasp the Party’s basic line and policies for the historical period of socialism. Only thus can one have a correct attitude towards the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the masses and oneself. It is essential to go on criticizing the counter-revolutionary revisionist line of Liu Shao-chi and of Lin Piao, capitalist tendencies and the ideology of bourgeois right and to defend and develop the fruits of the victory of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
A correct attitude towards this revolution calls for a correct attitude towards the’ new things that have emerged under socialism. New socialist things are the fresh fruits of the triumph of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie. They are the great and vital inventions of hundreds of millions of people. They restrict bourgeois right in all spheres and reflect the trend of historical development — socialism and communism will inevitably replace capitalism. Chairman Mao has said: “New things always have to experience difficulties and setbacks as they grow”; “The masses are the real heroes.” Every member of the Communist Party and every revolutionary must fervently, support new revolutionary things. It should be noted that new things have to go through a process of development and that they are liable to have certain shortcomings. One should adopt a positive attitude towards them and takemeasures to perfect them on the basis of fully affirming-their achievements. In no way should one behave like a bourgeois lord, peremptorily denounce them and pour-cold water on them. Still less should one follow the-handful of hostile people who have ulterior motives in their attempts to strangle new things: We should take class struggle as: the key link and continue to- do a good job in carrying out the revolution in education, in literature and art and in health work, and in- conducting struggle-criticism-transformation on all fronts.
“The Great Proletarian Cultural- Revolution- is a powerful motive force for the development of the social productive forces in our country.” 1976 is the first year of the Fifth Five-Year Plan for the development of our national economy efforts; should be made to fulfil and overfulfil the state plan. It is essential to persist in. buildihg our country independently and with the initiative in our own hands, through self-reliance, hard struggle, diligence and thrift, continue to carry out the. principle of? “Grasp revolution, promote production and other work and preparedness against war,” go all out, aim high and achieve greater, faster, better and. more economical results in building socialism, and? push the national economy forward. We must continue to deepen the mass movement In agriculture, learn from Tachai and, with the whole Party taking part in a tremendous, effort to develop agriculture, strive to: build Tachai-type counties, throughout the country. We must, adhere to the Charter of the Anshan Iron and Steel Company, continue to deepen the mass movement In industry, learn from Taching and take our own path of industrial development. Whether ih industry, agriculture or any other field of work, it is necessary to take class struggle as the key link; rely on the masses, conduct investigations and studies, sum up experience and do a good job in grasping typical cases.
Leadership by the Party is the basic guarantee for the victory of our cause. Party committees at all levels, must strengthen, their leadership, pay close attention to study, educate and train cadres; and conscientiously’ implement. Chairman Mao’s. revolutionary line and principles and policies. The great debate on. the educational front should be conducted under the leadership of Party committees at various levels; no “fighting. groups” should be organized. A strict distinction should be made between the two types of contradictions which differ in nature and they should be handled correctly. Major issues of right and wrong in- the two-line struggle-should be settled through debate so as to achieve clarity in ideology and draw a clear line of demarcation between Marxism and revisionism. With regard to comrades who have made mistakes, we should follow the policy Learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones and cure the sickness to save the patient, basing ourselves on the formula “Unity — criticism and self-criticism — unity” We should continue to pay attention to the three-in-one combination of the old, the-middle-aged, and the young. Guided by Chairman Mao’s revolutionary line, we should unite more than 95 per cent of the. masses and cadres, unite with, all the forces that can be united with, mobilize all positive factors and do our work in. every field still better.
The current international situation. is; excellent, there is. great, disorder under heaven. All the basic contradictions, in the world, are daily sharpening. The factors, for both revolution and war are. visibly increasing,. Phoney “goulash” communism has gone bankrupt. The Marxist-Leninist Parties and organizations, in various countries are growing stronger in the. struggle, against modern revisionism. The countries, and people of. the: third world have been playing their role as. the: main force in the struggle against imperialism, colonial-ism and great-power hegemonism… The contention between. the two hegemonic powers, the Soviet Union and the United States, is intensifying, strategically- Europe is. the focus, of their contention. Soviet social-imperialism, which is “making a feint to the east while attacking in the west” and most energetically playing the fraudulent game of “detente,” is, precisely the most dangerous source- of war today We must heighten our vigilance and. be prepared against war. We must continue to carry out the strategic principles advanced by Chairman Mao: “Dig tunnels deep, store grain everywhere, and never seek hegemony”; “Be prepared against war, be prepared against natural disasters, and do every thing for the people.” The People’s Liberation Army and the masses, of militiamen- should carry forward their glorious: revolutionary traditions, strengthen preparedness: against war, train hard, be strict with themselves and always be ready to wipe out any invading enemy. We are determined to liberate Taiwan Province, our sacred territory.
“Nothing is hard in this world if you dare to scale the heights.” Chairman Mao’s brilliant verses show the-bright and magnificent prospects before us and the tortuous struggle we have to go through on our way forward. They will guide us in breaking through brambles and thorns: and in advancing courageously along the great road of continuing the revolution. Under the guidance of Chairman Mao 's proletarian revolutionary line and the leadership of the Party Central Committee headed by Chairman Mao and with the unity of the- whole Party, the whole army and the people of the whole country, we are sure to overcome all difficulties and hazards and win still, greater victories: in the new year.
