Peng Xiaohui: Understanding Comrade Mao Zedong's Ideology of Seeking Truth from Facts Through Multiple Dimensions
Seeking truth from facts is the fundamental viewpoint of Marxism; it is the fundamental requirement for Chinese Communists in understanding and transforming the world, and it serves as our Party's basic ideological method, work method, and leadership method. Reviewing the Party's history, "seeking truth from facts" [1] represents a high-level distillation of the Marxist worldview and methodology by Chinese Communists—with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative—who profoundly grasped the essence of Marxist thought, integrated it with the practice of the Chinese revolutionary struggle, and expressed it through Chinese discourse. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the symposium commemorating the 130th anniversary of the birth of Comrade Mao Zedong: "Comrade Mao Zedong applied dialectical materialism and historical materialism to the entire work of the proletarian party. Through the long and arduous struggle of the Chinese revolution and construction, he formed a position, viewpoint, and method with the distinct characteristics of Chinese Communists, embodied in the three basic aspects of seeking truth from facts, the mass line, and independence. These constitute the living soul of Mao Zedong Thought." Examining Comrade Mao Zedong’s exploration of the ideological line of seeking truth from facts from multiple dimensions is of great significance for our conscious use of "seeking truth from facts" as an effective ideological weapon to better understand and transform the world.
The Historical View of the Masses. The Marxist historical view of the masses holds that the people are the subjects of practice and the creators of social history. "Everything for the people" was the starting point and ultimate goal of Comrade Mao Zedong's revolutionary work, and it became his value pursuit and revolutionary driving force. From a young age, Comrade Mao Zedong was concerned with the suffering of the people, once taking the pseudonym "Ziren" [2], implying a commitment to taking responsibility for the world. He clearly stated: "Why do we revolution? To liberate the Chinese nation, to achieve the rule of the people, and to ensure the economic happiness of the people." As a steadfast Marxist, Comrade Mao Zedong always considered and solved problems from the standpoint of the people. He emphasized that "all words and actions of Communists must be based on the highest standard of conforming to the greatest interests of the broadest masses of the people and being supported by the broadest masses of the people." He took the principles of "everything for the masses, everything relying on the masses, from the masses and to the masses" [3] as the cognitive and practical foundation for adhering to seeking truth from facts. He upheld truth for the sake of the people and "served the people heart and soul," winning the sincere support of the masses and leading the Chinese revolution and socialist construction from victory to victory. To implement the Party's ideological line of seeking truth from facts, we must proceed from the Marxist historical view of the masses, always persist in putting the people first, maintain a firm stance on the people’s side, grasp the people’s aspirations, respect the people’s creativity, and pool the people’s wisdom. We must persist in everything for the people and everything relying on the people, and comprehensively advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization.
The View of the Subject. The Chinese people have always been the subject force in developing China and the subject force in understanding China; they best understand China's specific realities and excellent traditional Chinese culture. Comrade Mao Zedong always regarded the Chinese people as the subject force, trusting and relying on the people to transform China and the world through their power. He carried out a "seek truth from facts" investigation and analysis of the specific conditions of various social strata in China, and on this basis, formulated policies and measures to mobilize the vast peasantry and workers, exploring the path of Chinese revolution and socialist construction. He pointed out: "The victory of the Chinese revolutionary struggle depends on Chinese comrades understanding Chinese conditions" and "China's affairs must be handled by the Communist Party and the people." It was by basing himself on Chinese reality, having the courage to persist in truth, and profoundly absorbing the lessons from the failure of the Great Revolution [4] that he proposed such important assertions as "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" and "the Party commands the gun." He led the Chinese people on a path of New Democratic Revolution characterized by encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing political power through armed struggle. He persisted in proceeding from reality, comprehensively criticized Wang Ming's "Left" dogmatist [5] errors, and applied the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism to solve issues concerning the Party's line, principles, and policies, thereby saving the Party, the Red Army, and the Chinese revolution at a critical historical juncture. The Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, relied closely on the people and independently explored a successful path for the Chinese revolution. A fundamental point running through this was that China's problems must proceed from China's basic national conditions and be answered by the Chinese people themselves. In implementing the Party's ideological line of seeking truth from facts, we must proceed from the Marxist view of the subject, always persist in self-confidence and self-reliance, and make new contributions to the development of Marxism with a more active sense of historical responsibility and creative spirit. We must neither "carve a mark on the boat to find a lost sword" [6] nor become closed and rigid; likewise, we must neither copy others indiscriminately nor "be unable to digest foreign learning."
The View of Contradictions. Contradictions exist in all things and run through the entire process of their development. Problems are the external manifestation of contradictions; to achieve "seeking truth from facts," one must adhere to the view of contradictions, face various existing problems squarely, and find methods and paths to solve them through investigation and research. Comrade Mao Zedong possessed a strong awareness of problems, persisted in the integration of theory and practice, and actively explored the truth for saving the country and the people. Investigation and research was the important work method used by Comrade Mao Zedong to solve problems and resolve contradictions, serving as an effective bridge connecting Marxist theory with China’s concrete practice. To explore the path of the Chinese revolution, Comrade Mao Zedong conducted extensive social investigations and wrote reports such as Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society, Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan, The Xunwu Investigation, The Xingguo Investigation, The Changgang Township Investigation, and The Caixi Township Investigation. He proposed famous assertions such as "oppose book worship" and "no investigation, no right to speak," providing rich, detailed first-hand materials and an important basis for the Party and the Red Army to understand conditions in rural and urban areas, study prominent problems in the revolutionary struggle, and formulate correct principles and policies. Doing a good job in investigation and research is the prerequisite for persisting in seeking truth from facts. Only through the investigation and understanding of objective realities—performing analysis that "discards the dross and selects the essential, eliminates the false and retains the true, proceeds from one point to another, and penetrates from the surface to the core"—can one understand the truth of matters, grasp the essence of problems, and identify the correct ideas and countermeasures for resolving contradictions. In implementing the Party's ideological line of seeking truth from facts, we must proceed from the Marxist view of contradictions and always persist in a problem-oriented approach. We must focus on new problems encountered in practice, deep-seated problems in reform, development, and stability, the urgent anxieties and expectations of the masses, major issues in the international arena, and prominent problems facing Party building, continuously proposing new ideas, new approaches, and new methods that truly solve these problems.
The View of Development. Truth itself exists objectively, independent of subjective consciousness or social-historical influence; yet simultaneously, truth depends on human society and historical conditions because human cognition is constantly developing. Comrade Mao Zedong did not treat Marxism as an immutable formula. Regarding the driving forces of the Chinese revolution, he conducted in-depth investigations and analyses of the economic positions and political status of various classes in Chinese society. He believed that "if the Chinese revolution lacks the leadership of the proletariat, it will certainly not succeed," that the peasantry is the firm ally of the working class, the urban petty bourgeoisie is also a reliable ally, and the national bourgeoisie is an ally at certain times and to a certain extent. Based on these conditions, he viewed problems through the lens of development, adopting different policies as the central work of the Chinese revolution and the principal social contradiction changed. For example, during the early period of the Party's founding and the Great Revolution, the central task was anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism, leading to the policy of the National Revolutionary United Front. After the failure of the Great Revolution, the focus of work shifted from the cities to the countryside, leading to the policy of the Worker-Peasant Democratic United Front. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the central task was to defeat the Japanese invaders, leading to the policy of the Anti-Japanese National United Front. During the War of Liberation, the central task was to liberate all of China and realize the people's status as masters of the country, leading to the policy of establishing a broad People's Democratic United Front. Following the development of Chinese revolutionary practice, Comrade Mao Zedong persisted in the line of great unity and grand coalition, solving the problems of winning over people's hearts and pooling forces. He enriched and developed Marxist theory and policy regarding the united front, which became an important "magic weapon" for the Party to defeat the enemy and govern and rejuvenate the country. In implementing the Party's ideological line of seeking truth from facts, we must proceed from the Marxist view of development and always persist in upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground. We must remain unswerving in our adherence to the basic principles of Marxism while eliminating dogmatism, book worship, and empiricism in practical work. We must treat all new things with enthusiastic devotion, continuously expand the breadth and depth of our understanding, dare to say new things that our predecessors never said, and dare to do things that our predecessors never did, thereby guiding new practice with new theory.
The View of Systems. Marxism holds that the world is an organic whole, where all things are in a state of mutual influence, interaction, and restraint. Comrade Mao Zedong was adept at thinking about and solving problems from a global or holistic perspective, focusing on using the Marxist systemic concept to understand, analyze, and solve a series of major issues in the Chinese revolution. He pointed out: "One cannot really play a good game of chess without a sense of the whole picture," emphasizing the importance of using "holistic" thinking to understand the problems of the Chinese revolution, and insisting on researching and grasping the characteristics and laws of the Chinese revolution with strategic thinking that possesses distinct systemic features. In the early building of the Red Army, Comrade Mao Zedong studied and analyzed the basic conditions of the old armies and proposed that military affairs could not be divorced from politics, economy, and culture. He argued that soldiers should "fight when on horseback and, when off horseback, take up the work of propagandizing the masses, organizing the masses, arming the masses, and helping the masses establish revolutionary political power." By the time of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he fully analyzed the situation of China’s resistance and the world anti-fascist war, scientifically grasped the laws of development of the resistance war, and wrote works such as On Protracted War. He not only systematically expounded the line of total resistance and the strategic policy of protracted war but also created a whole set of strategies and tactics to continuously destroy the enemy's effective strength, firming up the Chinese people’s confidence in inevitable victory. During the War of Liberation, based on the actual situation, Comrade Mao Zedong systematically organized the three great campaigns: Liaoshen, Huaihai, and Pingjin. These three campaigns were not scattered or isolated; rather, they were part of a complete deployment with overall planning, where each link was closely connected and supported the others. Comrade Mao Zedong always persisted in proceeding from the actual social conditions of our country, profoundly understanding and systematically grasping the characteristics and laws of the Chinese revolution, and excelling at deploying work around the principal contradiction. This has also become the successful experience of our Party in analyzing and solving specific problems in the practice of China's revolution, construction, and reform. In implementing the Party's ideological line of seeking truth from facts, we must proceed from the Marxist view of systems, always hold to systemic concepts, and engage in forward-looking thinking, overall planning, and the holistic advancement of all undertakings of the Party and the state.