Self-Revolution in the Depths of Thought: Mao Zedong’s High Regard for Political and Ideological Work

In the history of the Chinese Communist Party, beginning from the era of revolutionary war, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, attached great importance to political and ideological work. No matter how complex the struggle situation or how arduous the survival conditions, political and ideological work was always the Party’s core task occupying a strategic position. Political and ideological work is an important guarantee for the Party’s growth and strengthening, for the Party and the people to obtain spiritual strength, and for the success of the Party’s and the state’s various undertakings. It is a distinctive feature distinguishing the Chinese Communist Party from other political parties, a fine tradition of the Party, and also the Party’s advantage. Xi Jinping pointed out in his speech at the symposium commemorating the 130th anniversary of Comrade Mao Zedong’s birth: An important content of Mao Zedong’s Party-building thought is that it “emphatically stressed building the Party ideologically, and created the rectification form of ideological education through criticism and self-criticism.”[1]1 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Symposium Commemorating the 130th Anniversary of Comrade Mao Zedong’s Birth,” *People’s Daily*, December 27, 2023. It can be said that from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping, the extreme importance of political and ideological work has been repeatedly emphasized. Under any environmental conditions, political and ideological work is by no means dispensable or something that can be slackened. Especially under the conditions of the primary stage of socialism and the socialist market economy, once political and ideological work becomes weak and slack, the Party’s cause, the socialist cause, and people’s spiritual world will encounter problems, and may even commit subversive mistakes. Therefore, today, our emphasis on studying, summarizing, and inheriting the fine tradition of political and ideological work initiated by Mao Zedong and the older generation of revolutionaries is of great practical significance.

在中国共产党的历史上，从革命战争年代开始，以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人就非常重视思想政治工作，无论斗争形势多么复杂，生存条件多么艰苦，思想政治工作始终是党居于战略性地位的核心任务。思想政治工作是党成长壮大、党和人民获取精神力量以及党和国家各项事业取得成功的重要保证，是中国共产党区别于其他政党的显著特征，是党的优良传统，也是党的优势所在。习近平在纪念毛泽东同志诞辰130周年座谈会上的讲话中指出：毛泽东党建思想的一个重要内容，就是“着重强调要从思想上建党，创造了通过批评和自我批评进行思想教育的整风形式”。[1]可以说，从毛泽东到习近平都反复强调思想政治工作的极端重要性。思想政治工作在任何环境条件下都绝不是可有可无、可以松懈的事情。特别是在社会主义初级阶段和社会主义市场经济条件下，思想政治工作一旦软弱松懈，党的事业、社会主义事业、人们的精神世界就会出问题，甚至会犯颠覆性错误。因此，今天我们重视学习、总结、传承毛泽东和老一辈革命家开创的思想政治工作这一优良传统，非常具有现实意义。

I. From Building the Party Ideologically and Building the Army Politically to Political and Ideological Work as the Lifeline of All Work

一、从思想建党、政治建军到思想政治工作是一切工作的生命线

1. Political and Ideological Work Is the Inherent Requirement for Ensuring Building the Party Ideologically and Building the Army Politically

1. 思想政治工作是确保思想建党和政治建军的内在要求

The fine tradition of the Chinese Communist Party’s emphasis on political and ideological work was not achieved overnight, but underwent a process of formation and maturation, which is consistent with the process of the Party’s growth and strengthening and the expansion of the revolutionary ranks. This is because political and ideological work also requires the formation of a certain scale of population and organized group structures. In the early period of the Party’s founding, the composition of Party members was complex, and the people participating in the revolution were even more complex. Many of these advanced elements relied on self-study and cognition from social practice, belonging to those who first knew and first awakened; of course, some people’s elevation of ideological consciousness also came from the ideological guidance of teachers and mentors. In the early days, these few Party members and advanced elements mainly engaged in mobilizing and organizing the masses to rise up in revolution, and also carried out some necessary ideological education work. As the number of Party members and revolutionary masses increased, the problem of ideological diversity became increasingly prominent, objectively forming the practical basis for political and ideological work. In particular, some people inevitably harbored undesirable tendencies such as outlaw heroism, individual heroism, roving-rebel ideology, factional and clique habits, liberalism, and slack and undisciplined behavior, which further highlighted the urgency of political and ideological work. For the Chinese Communist Party to truly become a vanguard organization, under complex composition conditions, it had first to solve the problem of unifying ideological understanding and elevating the spiritual realm; this is the inherent requirement for establishing building the Party ideologically. Especially after the Chinese Communist Party established its own leading army, to form an invincible new type of military, it had to overcome old habits and evils within the army such as roving-rebel ideology, mountain-stronghold mentality, command will, warlord habits, and purely military viewpoint. It had to ensure the nature of the people’s army under the Party’s leadership; this army of children from workers and peasants must resolutely obey the Party’s leadership and implement the Party’s purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly and its principles and policies. This is the inherent requirement for establishing building the army politically. The principles of building the Party ideologically and building the army politically were established and consolidated under Mao Zedong’s leadership. They ensured that during the revolutionary war era, the Chinese Communist Party led the people to continuous victory and brilliance, and during the peaceful construction period, the Party’s leadership and the people’s state power were consolidated at the foundation and developed stably. Both building the Party ideologically and building the army politically highlight the extreme importance of political and ideological work. Whether in the era of revolutionary war or in the period of peaceful construction, to ensure building the Party ideologically and building the army politically, political and ideological work has faced very complex situations and very arduous tasks.

中国共产党重视思想政治工作的优良传统并不是一蹴而就，而是经历了形成和成熟的发展过程，这与党的成长壮大和革命队伍发展壮大的过程相一致。因为思想政治工作同样需要一定的人群规模和团体组织化结构的形成。在党成立初期，党员成分复杂，参加革命的人群更复杂。他们中许多先进分子靠的是自我学习和来自社会实践的认知，属于先知先觉者，当然有些人思想觉悟的提升也有来自师长、导师的思想教导。早期这些人数不多的党员和先进分子所从事的主要工作是发动和组织群众起来闹革命，其中也做些必要的思想教育工作。随着党员和革命群众数量的增多，思想的多元化问题日益突显，客观上形成思想政治工作的现实基础，特别是一些人身上难免存在的草莽英雄气、个人英雄主义、流寇主义、团团伙伙帮派习气、自由主义、拖拉散漫等不良倾向，更彰显了思想政治工作的迫切性。中国共产党要想真正成为先锋队组织，在成分复杂的状况下必须先解决思想认识统一和提升精神境界的问题，这就是确立思想建党的内在要求。尤其在中国共产党建立自己领导的军队之后，要想组建一支战无不胜的新型军队，必须克服军队内部存在的流寇主义、山头主义、长官意志、军阀习气、单纯军事主义等旧习恶习，必须确保党领导的人民军队性质，这支来自工农的子弟兵必须坚决服从党的领导和贯彻执行党的全心全意为人民服务宗旨及方针政策，这就是确立政治建军的内在要求。思想建党和政治建军原则是毛泽东领导确立和巩固起来的，它确保在革命战争年代中国共产党带领人民不断取得胜利、走向辉煌，在和平建设时期党的领导和人民江山固本强基、稳固发展。无论思想建党还是政治建军都突出了思想政治工作的极端重要性。无论革命战争年代还是和平建设时期，为了确保思想建党和政治建军，思想政治工作都面临十分复杂的形势和十分艰巨的任务。

2. The Tremendous Effectiveness of Political and Ideological Work

2. 思想政治工作的巨大成效

In a large country like China with a long accumulation of agricultural civilization, the peasants, who constitute the vast majority of the population, were historically not only the main force of violent revolution but also the main allied force of the proletarian revolution and the main labor force for national construction. The difference is that the broad masses of peasants who followed the Chinese Communist Party to join the revolution, regardless of gender or age, were able to quickly shake off the ignorant and conservative state of the old society and achieve a thorough transformation. Not only did they rapidly forge the strongest vanguard organization and an invincible new type of people’s army during the war years, but after entering the cities for construction, they quickly became the main force of socialist construction, creating miracles from war to miracles in New China’s construction. These were not accidental, but stemmed from the dual transformation of the working people in terms of status and spiritual world. Among these, the transformation and reshaping of the spiritual world or subjective realm was not done casually or easily, but was the unique effect of the Chinese Communist Party’s unremitting political and ideological work. Political and ideological work, as a reliable guarantee for the transformation and reshaping of spirit and thought, enabled very ordinary masses to possess a master-of-the-house spirit and subjective initiative, thereby becoming revolutionary masses full of fighting spirit and wisdom. From among them emerged revolutionary heroes who advanced wave upon wave, such as Liu Hulan, Zhang Side, Huang Jiguang, Qiu Shaoyun, and Dong Cunrui, and construction models and new socialist persons such as Iron Man Wang Jinxi and Lei Feng, who served the people wholeheartedly. It can be said that the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, reshaped the spiritual outlook of the Chinese people through political and ideological work. The Chinese Communist Party is an organization forged of iron, the Chinese military is an iron wall, and the Chinese people are hard bones. With such a vast “human resource” full of combat effectiveness and creativity, the sparks of revolution quickly turned into an inextinguishable prairie fire. The three great mountains [2]2 “Three great mountains” (三座大山) is a standard Chinese Communist Party term for the three oppressive forces that the Chinese revolution aimed to overthrow: imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism. of old China were completely overthrown, and the New China, where the people are the masters, changed the world and took on a new look, becoming a grand stage for the broad masses of the people to fully display their abilities and create miracles. In an environment of extremely difficult material conditions, the Chinese people were not afraid of hardship and difficulty; they relied on a heroic spirit of hard struggle and indomitable will, and on the energy and spirit of daring to struggle and daring to win. This is a national spiritual style generated by the elevation of ideological realm and consciousness, and the Party’s earnest and solid implementation of political and ideological work was the important support behind it.

在中国这样有悠久农业文明积淀的历史大国，占人口绝大多数的农民，既是历史上暴力革命的主力军，同样也是无产阶级革命的主力同盟军和国家建设的主要劳动力，所不同的是，跟随中国共产党投身革命的广大农民，无论男女老少，能够迅速摆脱旧社会愚昧保守状态而实现脱胎换骨，不仅在战争年代迅速打造出最坚强的先锋队组织和战无不胜的新型人民军队，而且进城搞建设迅速成为社会主义建设主力军，从创造战争奇迹到创造新中国建设奇迹。这些都不是偶然的，而是缘于劳动人民在身份地位与精神世界上的双重变革，其中精神世界或主观领域的变革与重塑不是随便或轻易做到的，而是中国共产党坚持不懈开展思想政治工作的独特功效。思想政治工作作为精神思想变革与重塑的可靠保证，使很普通的群众都能具有主人翁精神和主体能动性，从而变成充满斗志和睿智的革命群众，从中走出像刘胡兰、张思德、黄继光、邱少云、董存瑞等前赴后继的革命英雄，走出像铁人王进喜、全心全意为人民服务的雷锋等建设英模和社会主义新人。可以说，以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人通过思想政治工作使中国人民的精神风貌得以重塑。中国共产党是铁打的组织，中国军队是铜墙铁壁，中国人民是硬骨头。中国革命和建设事业有了这样数量最庞大的充满战斗力和创造性的“人力资源”，革命的星星之火迅速变为生生不息的燎原烈火，旧中国的三座大山被彻底推翻，人民当家作主的新中国改天换地、旧貌换新颜，成为广大人民群众充分展示能力、创造奇迹的大舞台。在物质条件极其艰苦的环境中，中国人民不怕艰难困苦，靠的是艰苦奋斗、百折不挠的英雄气概，靠的是敢于斗争、敢于胜利的精气神。这是思想境界和觉悟提升所生成的一种民族精神风貌，党的思想政治工作真抓实干正是其背后的重要支撑。

3. Mao Zedong’s Practical Initiatives in Leading Political and Ideological Work

3. 毛泽东领导思想政治工作的实践创举

Mao Zedong consistently emphasized the importance of ideological and political work, and during the most arduous years of war he led the institutional creation of such work. This began with the organizational discipline of founding a new type of people’s army and was formalized in the epoch-making Gutian Congress Resolution of the Ninth Party Congress of the Fourth Red Army in 1929.[3]3 The Gutian Congress Resolution (1929) established the principle of the Party’s absolute leadership over the military and prioritized ideological work in Party building, laying the foundation for the political work system of the Red Army. On the basis of establishing the principle of absolute Party leadership over the military as the foundation for political army-building, this resolution insisted on placing ideological construction in the first position of Party building. It not only specified ten items of content and eighteen methods for intra-Party education but also nineteen items of content and specific educational methods for soldier education. After the Gutian Congress, Mao, through investigation and research and analysis of the actual effects produced, further summarized seven points of experience in military management methods: cadres must be integrated with the masses, must go deep among the masses and draw close to them. If ideological and political work does not draw close to the masses, it cannot hear their innermost thoughts, making it difficult to understand and resolve ideological problems and practical difficulties; cadres must care for and show concern for soldiers and the masses; cadres must set an example by their own conduct; they must mobilize soldiers and the masses to educate and manage themselves; persuasion and education are more important than punishment. Ideological and political work relies on raising ideological consciousness, not on coercion and punishment; it is good at propaganda and agitation, not merely relying on orders and commands; rewards and punishments must be clearly distinguished. What deserves reward must be rewarded; what deserves punishment must be punished.[2]2 “Three great mountains” (三座大山) is a standard Chinese Communist Party term for the three oppressive forces that the Chinese revolution aimed to overthrow: imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism.(P111-121) These elements—including important principles, rules and regulations, methods, and practical experience of ideological and political work—laid the theoretical foundation and institutional guarantee for the effective operation of the ideological and political work of the Chinese Communist Party and the military. They marked the establishment of the important status of the Party’s ideological and political work and the initial formation of its system. Subsequent practice in ideological and political work matured and improved on this basis. After the founding of New China, ideological and political work naturally covered all trades and professions nationwide. In 1955, in a note to the book *The Socialist Upsurge in China’s Countryside*, Mao explicitly stated: “Political work is the lifeblood of all economic work. This is especially true during periods of fundamental change in the social and economic system.”[3]3 The Gutian Congress Resolution (1929) established the principle of the Party’s absolute leadership over the military and prioritized ideological work in Party building, laying the foundation for the political work system of the Red Army.(P123-124) Thereafter, each generation of the Party’s collective leadership emphasized the importance of ideological and political work, further affirming Mao’s thesis on the “lifeblood.” In June 1981, the resolution of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party explicitly stated: “Ideological and political work is the lifeblood of economic work and all other work.”[4]4 The Four Cardinal Principles (四项基本原则) are: upholding the socialist path, the people’s democratic dictatorship, the leadership of the CPC, and Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. They were articulated by Deng Xiaoping in 1979.(P831) On the centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council issued the *Opinions on Strengthening and Improving Ideological and Political Work in the New Era*, which pointed out: “Ideological and political work is the Party’s fine tradition, distinctive feature, and prominent political advantage; it is the lifeblood of all work. Strengthening and improving ideological and political work concerns the Party’s future and destiny, concerns the long-term stability of the country, and concerns the cohesion and centripetal force of the nation.”[5]5 Mao Zedong, *Collected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 8, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999, p. 25. This shows that the Chinese Communist Party has always regarded ideological and political work as the lifeblood of all work. This is determined by the objective requirements of the Party’s nature, mission, tasks, work characteristics, and the conditions of the Party, the country, and practice. Many miracles of revolution and construction cannot be separated from the support of the effectiveness of the Party’s ideological and political work.

毛泽东一贯强调思想政治工作的重要性，并在最艰苦的战争年代领导了思想政治工作的制度创建，这肇始于领导创立新型人民军队的组织纪律，定型于1929年红军第四军第九次党的代表大会作出的具有划时代意义的古田会议决议。该决议在确立了党对军队的绝对领导这一政治建军原则基础上，坚持把思想建设放在党的建设首位，不仅具体规定了党内教育的十项内容和十八项教育方法，还有对士兵教育的十九项内容和具体教育方式方法。古田会议之后，毛泽东通过调查研究，在对实际产生的效果进行分析之后，进一步总结出军队管理方式的七条经验：干部要群众化，要深入群众、接近群众。思想政治工作不接近群众就听不到心里话，很难了解和解决思想问题和实际困难；干部要关心体贴战士群众；干部要以身作则做表率；发动战士群众自我教育和管理自己；说服教育重于惩罚。思想政治工作靠提高思想觉悟而不是靠强迫惩罚；善于宣传鼓动而不是光靠指派命令；赏罚分明。应赏必赏，该罚必罚。[2](P111-121)这些包含着思想政治工作的重要原则、规章制度、方式方法、实践经验等，为中国共产党和军队的思想政治工作的有效运行奠定了理论基础和制度保障，标志着党的思想政治工作重要地位的确立和思想政治工作体系的初步形成，之后的思想政治工作实践在此基础上不断成熟完善。新中国成立后，思想政治工作自然覆盖全国上下各行各业，1955年，毛泽东在《中国农村的社会主义高潮》一书按语中明确指出：“政治工作是一切经济工作的生命线。在社会经济制度发生根本变革的时期，尤其是这样。”[3](P123-124)之后，党的每一代领导集体都强调思想政治工作的重要性，进一步肯定了毛泽东关于“生命线”的论断。1981年6月，党的十一届六中全会决议明确提出：“思想政治工作是经济工作和其他一切工作的生命线”，[4](P831)在中国共产党成立100周年之际，中共中央、国务院印发《关于新时代加强和改进思想政治工作的意见》指出：“思想政治工作是党的优良传统、鲜明特色和突出政治优势，是一切工作的生命线。加强和改进思想政治工作，事关党的前途命运，事关国家长治久安，事关民族凝聚力和向心力。”[5]这表明中国共产党始终把思想政治工作当作一切工作的生命线，这是基于党的性质、使命、任务、工作特点等党情、国情和实践的客观要求决定的，革命和建设的许多奇迹背后都离不开党的思想政治工作效能的支撑。

Of course, the extreme importance of ideological and political work can also be confirmed by negative lessons. That is to say, at no time can ideological and political work be neglected, still less can it be paid lip service while acting otherwise; otherwise, the various undertakings of the Party and the state will suffer serious setbacks. This is in no way an exaggeration or alarmism. In Party building and the national development strategy, once ideological and political work becomes weak and lax, major problems will arise in Party conduct, clean governance, social atmosphere, and people’s spiritual outlook, thereby endangering the Party’s leadership and the people’s position as masters of the country—the very foundation of the state. For example, the principle of political army-building needs to be strengthened and understood even more in peacetime. If the principle of political army-building is abandoned, the nature of the people’s army will change, the Party’s absolute leadership over the military will be weakened, the fundamental socialist system of the people being masters of the country will lose its hard-power guarantee, and a series of means and conspiracies by Western capitalist powers to throw their weight around, contain China, and carry out color revolutions will easily succeed. The state system will change color, the state apparatus will degenerate and become the antithesis of the broad working masses, turning into a machine that paves the way for taking the capitalist road. Adhering unswervingly to the Party’s basic line requires that in practical work we not only persist in taking economic construction as the center and in reform and opening up, but also uphold the Four Cardinal Principles[4]4 The Four Cardinal Principles (四项基本原则) are: upholding the socialist path, the people’s democratic dictatorship, the leadership of the CPC, and Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. They were articulated by Deng Xiaoping in 1979. and their requirements for the importance of ideological and political work. Especially in the period of peaceful development, the advantageous position of ideological and political work cannot be weakened, and its fine traditions cannot be discarded; otherwise, the price must be paid. Deng Xiaoping once spoke of lessons and repeatedly reminded that material civilization and cultural-ethical progress must be grasped with both hands and both hands must be strong. In 1989, he explicitly pointed out: “Our development over the last ten years has been very good. Our biggest mistake was in education; ideological and political work was weak, and educational development was insufficient… Therefore, ideological and political work among the people must be strengthened.”[6]6 Mao Zedong, *Collected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 7, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999, p. 371.(P290) In the New Era, comprehensively strengthening Party leadership requires placing political construction in the first position and implementing it in all constructions; this is a high regard for the lifeblood. Ideological and political work is the lifeblood of all work. It must be carried out universally among leading cadres and ordinary masses, both inside and outside the Party, persistently and without letup, firmly grasping the leadership and initiative in ideological and political work.

当然，思想政治工作的极端重要性也会从反面教训中得以印证。也就是说，什么时候都不能不重视思想政治工作，更不能对待思想政治工作阳奉阴违，否则，党和国家的各项事业就会遭受严重挫折，这丝毫不是什么夸张之词和危言耸听。在党的建设和国家发展战略上，一旦思想政治工作软弱涣散，党风廉政、社会风气、人们的精神面貌就会出大问题，进而危及党的领导和人民当家作主的江山社稷。比如政治建军这一原则在和平时期更加需要强化认识，如果放弃政治建军原则，人民军队的性质就会改变，党对军队的绝对领导就会削弱，人民当家作主的社会主义根本制度就失去硬实力保障，西方资本主义列强耀武扬威、遏制中国、实施颜色革命的一系列手段和阴谋就很容易得逞，国体就会变色，国家机器就会变质、变成广大劳动人民的对立物，沦为走资本主义道路的开路机器。坚持党的基本路线不动摇，要求我们在实际工作中不仅要坚持以经济建设为中心和改革开放，而且要坚持四项基本原则及其对思想政治工作重要性的要求。特别是在和平发展时期，思想政治工作的优势地位不能削弱，优良传统不能丢，否则就要付出代价。邓小平曾谈及教训并反复提醒物质文明与精神文明必须两手抓、两手都要硬，他在1989年明确指出：“我们最近十年的发展是很好的。我们最大的失误是在教育方面，思想政治工作薄弱了，教育发展不够……所以要加强对人民的进行思想政治工作”。[6](P290)新时代，全面加强党的领导更要把政治建设放在首位并贯彻到各项建设之中，这是对生命线的高度重视。思想政治工作是一切工作的生命线，在领导干部和普通群众中、无论党内党外都要普遍开展，常抓不懈，牢牢掌握思想政治工作的领导权和主动权。

II. Basic Experience of Mao Zedong’s Leadership in Ideological and Political Work

二、毛泽东领导思想政治工作的基本经验

Ideological and political work is not a simple task with a single goal that can be accomplished overnight; it is a systematic social project with complexity that requires systematization. It needs a series of conditions and guarantees, including theoretical guidance, organizational leadership, practical tempering, mass participation, and verification of effectiveness. It is necessary here to briefly review some successful experiences of Mao Zedong’s leadership in ideological and political work.

思想政治工作不是目标单一、一蹴而就的简单工作，而是一项具有复杂性、需要体系化的系统社会工程，需要具备理论指导、组织领导、实践磨炼、群众参与、实效检验等一系列条件保证。这里有必要简略回顾毛泽东领导思想政治工作的一些成功经验。

1. Making Full Theoretical Preparations

1. 做好充分的理论准备

Ideological and political work requires scientific theory as its support. The Communist Party of China is a Marxist political party, and naturally takes Marxism as its theoretical foundation; in particular, it is only by combining this with the concrete guidance of the Sinicized and modernized Marxist theory formed in light of Chinese realities, and by flexibly applying the correct standpoints, viewpoints, and methods in practical work, that results can be achieved. During the various periods of revolutionary war and peaceful construction, Mao Zedong adhered to the ideological line of seeking truth from facts, proceeded from the conditions of actual struggle, created new theoretical works in a timely manner, formulated various policies for the Party, and provided ideological and political work with theoretical guidance that had practical pertinence. For example, during the period of revolutionary struggle in the base areas such as Jinggangshan, Mao Zedong wrote works such as *Why Is It That Red Political Power Can Exist in China?*, *The Struggle in the Jinggang Mountains*, and *A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire*, which cleared up misunderstandings in people’s thinking, strengthened the firm conviction of carrying the revolution through to the end, and provided theoretical guidance for ideological and political work in deepening the establishment of rural revolutionary base areas and opening up the new revolutionary path of encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing state power by armed force. Mao Zedong’s writings such as *Oppose Book Worship* and *Be Concerned with the Well-Being of the Masses, Pay Attention to Methods of Work* emphasized the method of ideological and political work that closely integrates theory with solving practical problems, possessing a strong problem-consciousness and pertinence. During the period of the War of Resistance Against Japan as a whole, *On Contradiction* and *On Practice* further laid the philosophical foundation for ideological and political work. In response to the development of the situation, Mao Zedong successively wrote brilliant works such as *Problems of Strategy in the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla War*, *On Protracted War*, *Problems of War and Strategy*, and *On New Democracy*, which contained a series of basic tasks and working methods for ideological and political work, making the status of ideological and political work even clearer, thereby playing a huge role. During the War of Liberation, Mao Zedong put forward the famous thesis that “all reactionaries are paper tigers,” greatly inspiring the Party, government, military, and civilians. Educated and armed by Mao Zedong’s theory of the people’s democratic dictatorship, the Party and the people established the firm conviction of carrying the revolution through to the end. During the period of socialist revolution and construction, through nationwide popularization education in Marxism, people’s ideological consciousness was widely raised, and the Chinese people, who had turned over and gained liberation, generally acquired a sense of being masters of their own affairs. Through investigation and research, Mao Zedong wrote important theoretical works such as *On the Ten Major Relationships* and *On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People*, which became programmatic documents for the Party’s policy formulation and ideological and political work during the period of socialist consolidation and construction.

思想政治工作需要有科学理论做支撑。中国共产党是马克思主义政党，自然以马克思主义为理论基础，特别是结合中国实际形成的中国化现代化马克思主义理论的具体指导，在实际工作中灵活运用正确的立场观点方法，才能取得成效。在革命战争与和平建设各个时期，毛泽东坚持实事求是的思想路线，从实际斗争状况出发，实时地创作新的理论著作，为党制定各项方针政策，为思想政治工作提供具有现实针对性的理论指导。比如，在井冈山等根据地革命斗争时期，毛泽东撰写了《中国的红色政权为什么能够存在？》《井冈山的斗争》《星星之火，可以燎原》等著作，为大家拨开思想认识上的误区、增强革命到底的必胜信心，为深入开展建立农村革命根据地、开辟以农村包围城市武装夺取政权的革命新道路在思想政治工作上提供了理论指导。毛泽东撰写的《反对本本主义》《关心群众生活，注意工作方法》等著述，强调理论要与解决实际问题密切结合的思想政治工作方法，具有很强的问题意识和针对性。在全面抗战时期，《矛盾论》和《实践论》进一步奠定了思想政治工作的哲学基础。毛泽东针对时局发展相继写出《抗日游击战争的战略问题》《论持久战》《战争和战略问题》《新民主主义论》等光辉著作，其中包含一系列思想政治工作的基本任务和工作方法，思想政治工作的地位更加明确，从而发挥出巨大作用。在解放战争时期，毛泽东提出“一切反动派都是纸老虎”的著名论断，党政军民学备受鼓舞。在毛泽东人民民主专政理论的教育武装下，党和人民树立了将革命进行到底的必胜信念。在社会主义革命和建设时期，通过全国范围开展马克思主义大众化的普及教育，人们的思想觉悟广泛得到提高，翻身得解放的中国人民普遍有了主人翁意识。毛泽东通过调查研究撰写出《论十大关系》《关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题》等重要理论著作，成为社会主义巩固和建设时期党制定政策和思想政治工作的纲领性文献。

2. Overall Planning and Organizational Leadership

2. 统筹开展组织领导

Carrying out ideological and political work requires establishing and strengthening Party and Youth League organizations; Party members, Youth League members, and cadres must first engage in self-education and then go deep among the masses, organize the masses, mobilize the masses, lead the masses, and educate the masses. First, whether in the early construction of base areas, army building, or the development and organizational construction of the Party in the liberated areas, Party committees, Party branches, and Party groups were established at all levels of government and in all trades and professions, with the core task being to realize the Party’s ideological guidance and political leadership through ideological and political work. For example, in the economic sphere, Mao Zedong repeatedly emphasized that ideological and political work is an important guarantee for achieving economic development, and that the Party’s leadership of economic work needs to be carried out through ideological and political work. On many occasions, he pointed out: “The unity of economics and politics, of technology and politics, occurs every year. Thought and politics are the commander, the sovereign; technology is the soldier, the minister; thought and politics are also the guarantee of technology.” [5]5 Mao Zedong, *Collected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 8, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999, p. 25.(P25) In the military sphere, in addition to establishing and strengthening Party organizations at all levels within the army, from the Military Commission down to the company level, positions such as Director of the General Political Department, political commissars, political instructors, and political guides were specially set up to be responsible for ideological and political work, to strengthen military ideological work and political guidance, and to resolutely implement the Party’s absolute leadership over the military. Second, Mao Zedong attached importance to the organizational leadership of ideological and political work; he particularly emphasized the role of the “first secretary” and the “Party committee,” repeatedly stressing on many occasions: “Party committees at all levels, especially the first secretaries of provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions,” should “immediately take charge of” the tasks of “strengthening ideological and political work and solving specific problems in these areas.” [6]6 Mao Zedong, *Collected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 7, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999, p. 371.(P371) What is meant by “taking charge” is “to put this issue on the agenda and to study it.” [7]7 Mao Zedong, *Collected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 7, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999, p. 282.(P282) Mao Zedong also specifically pointed out that ideological and political work is work that needs to be done in all aspects, fields, and departments. For example, at the Second Session of the Eighth National Congress of the CPC, he pointed out: “Whether in military or civilian affairs, whether in factories, villages, shops, schools, the army, Party and government organs, or mass organizations, all aspects must greatly strengthen political work and raise the political level of cadres and the masses.” [8]8 Mao Zedong, *Collected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 7, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999, p. 1480.(P1480) “All departments must take responsibility for ideological and political work. The Communist Party should manage it, the Communist Youth League should manage it, the competent government departments should manage it, and school principals and teachers should manage it even more.” [7]7 Mao Zedong, *Collected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 7, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999, p. 282.(P226) Finally, at the level of the content of ideological and political work under organizational leadership, Mao Zedong particularly emphasized that Party committees and first secretaries, including provincial, prefectural, and county Party secretaries, need to pay attention to newspapers, schools, literature and art, and broadcasting when focusing on ideological work; they must understand the ideological trends in factories, schools, and newspapers and periodicals. [7]7 Mao Zedong, *Collected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 7, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999, p. 282.(P242) For the military, this means “ensuring the completion of the unit’s production plan and education plan, and ensuring that the unit maintains correct relations with the Party, government, and people while implementing these two plans… ensuring the purity of economic cadres.” [9]9 Mao Zedong, *Collected Military Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 2, Beijing: Military Science Press and Central Party Literature Press, 1993, p. 695.(P695)

开展思想政治工作需要建立健全党团组织，党员、团员、干部首先要自我教育并深入群众、组织群众、发动群众、带领群众、教育群众。首先，无论早期根据地建设、军队建设还是解放区各地党的发展和组织建设，各级政府、各行各业均设立了党委、党支部、党小组，核心任务就是通过思想政治工作实现党的思想引领和政治领导。例如在经济领域，毛泽东多次强调，思想政治工作是实现经济发展的重要保障，党领导经济工作需要通过思想和政治工作展开。他在不少场合指出：“经济与政治、技术与政治的统一，年年如此。思想、政治是统帅，是君，技术是士兵，是臣，思想、政治又是技术的保证”。[7](P25)在军队领域，除了建立健全军队各级党组织以外，从军委到连队均专设负责思想政治工作的总政治部主任、政委、教导员、指导员等，加强军队思想工作和政治引领，坚决贯彻执行党对军队的绝对领导。其次，毛泽东重视开展思想政治工作的组织领导，他特别强调“第一书记”“党委”的作用，在多个场合反复强调：“各级党委，特别是省、市和自治区一级的第一书记”，对于“加强思想政治工作，解决这些方面的具体问题等项任务，应该立即抓起来。”[8](P371)所谓“抓”，“就是要把这个问题提到议事日程上，要研究”。[9](P282)毛泽东也特别指出思想政治工作是各方面各领域各部门需要做的工作，例如，他在党的八届二次全会上指出：“不论文武，不论工厂，农村，商店，学校，军队，党政机关，群众团体，各方面都要极大地加强政治工作，提高干部和群众的政治水平”。[10](P1480)“思想政治工作，各个部门都要负责任。共产党应该管，青年团应该管，政府主管部门应该管，学校的校长教师更应该管”。[9](P226)最后，在组织领导的思想政治工作内容层面，毛泽东特别强调，党委和第一书记，包括省委、地委、县委书记，关注思想工作就需要管报纸、学校、文学艺术和广播；要了解工厂、学校以及报纸、刊物的思想动向。[9](P242)对军队而言，就是“保障部队生产计划与教育计划的完成及在实施这两项计划时保障自己部队与党政民发生正确的关系……保障经济干部的纯洁。”[11](P695)

3. Ideological Education, Practical Transformation, and the Unity of Knowledge and Action

3. 思想教育实践改造，知行合一

Ideological and political work does not degenerate into empty talk; during the era of revolutionary war, ideological and political work was often embedded in the practice of struggle. In the early Agrarian Revolutionary War, when Mao Zedong organized and mobilized the masses to overthrow local tyrants and distribute land, he demanded that Party cadres and Red Army commanders and fighters attach importance to conducting ideological and political education among the peasants, making propaganda and education a key task throughout both peacetime work and the entire process of combat. For example, each company was equipped with several full-time propagandists who used simple and easy-to-understand language to explain in plain terms the principles of overthrowing local tyrants, distributing land, establishing peasant associations, and becoming masters of their own destiny. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Mao Zedong pointed out the importance of educating the people through ideological propaganda work, eliminating backward ideas among the people, and promoting the people’s ideological awakening: “The awakening of the people is not easy. To remove the erroneous ideas from the people’s minds requires us to do a great deal of solid and practical work. We must sweep away the backward things in the minds of the Chinese people, just as we sweep a room with a broom. Dust never disappears of itself without being swept. We must carry out extensive propaganda and education work among the masses.” [10]10 Mao Zedong, *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 4, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1991, p. 1131.(P1131)

思想政治工作不是流于空谈，在革命战争年代，思想政治工作往往寓于斗争实践之中。早期土地革命战争中，毛泽东组织和发动群众打土豪、分田地，就要求党员干部和红军指战员重视对农民进行思想政治教育，把宣传教育作为一项重要任务贯穿于平时工作和作战全过程中。比如，每个连队都有配备多名固定宣传员，采用通俗易懂的语言文字深入浅出地宣讲打土豪、分田地、成立农会、翻身做主人等道理。在抗日战争中，毛泽东指出要通过思想宣传工作教育人民、扫除人民落后思想、推动人民思想觉悟的重要性，“人民的觉悟不是容易的，要去掉人民脑子中的错误思想，需要我们做很多切切实实的工作。对于中国人民脑子中的落后的东西，我们要去扫除，就像用扫帚打扫房子一样。从来没有不经过打扫而自动去掉的灰尘。我们要在人民群众中间，广泛地进行宣传教育工作”。[12](P1131)

After the founding of New China, our Party led educational and practical activities such as the rectification movement, the “Three-Anti” and “Five-Anti” campaigns, [11]11 The “Three-Anti” campaign (1951-1952) targeted corruption, waste, and bureaucracy within the Party, government, army, and state-owned enterprises. The “Five-Anti” campaign (1952) targeted bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, cheating on government contracts, and stealing state economic information among private industrialists and merchants. which achieved very good results in unifying thinking, raising understanding, consolidating state power, correcting errors, and boosting drive throughout the Party. During the movement for agricultural cooperation, Mao Zedong pointed out: “The movement for agricultural cooperation has, from the very beginning, been a serious ideological and political struggle… The remnants of old ideas reflecting the old system always remain in people’s minds for a long time and are not willing to withdraw easily.” [12]12 Mao Zedong, *Collected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 6, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999, pp. 449-450.(P449-450) During the process of socialist construction, Mao Zedong particularly emphasized that ideological and political work must be carried out in conjunction with economic work, combining the solution of practical problems with the solution of ideological problems, and stressing the unity of social revolution and theoretical work, and the unity of knowledge and action. He emphasized that a “complete communist” cannot stop at words or at taking from the people, but must give the people tangible material benefits, while simultaneously carrying out mobilization work, helping the people develop production, and raising their cultural level. [13]13 Mao Zedong, *Collected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 8, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999, p. 467.(P467)

新中国成立后，我们党领导了整风运动、“三反”“五反”运动等教育实践活动，在全党上下统一思想、提高认识、巩固政权、纠正错误、增强干劲等方面收到了很好效果。在农业合作化运动中，毛泽东就指出，“农业合作化运动，从一开始，就是一种严重的思想的和政治的斗争……反映旧制度的旧思想的残余，总是长期地留在人们的头脑里，不愿意轻易地退走的。”[13](P449-450)在社会主义建设过程中，毛泽东特别强调思想政治工作要结合经济工作一道去做，将解决实际问题和解决思想问题相结合，重视社会革命与理论工作相统一，知与行相统一，他强调一个“完全的共产主义者”，不能停留在口头上和向人民索取上，必须给人民以看得见的物质福利，同时开展动员工作，帮助人民发展生产，提高文化。[14](P467)

What needs to be explained here is that the unity of knowledge and action inherent in the Party’s ideological education, which is embedded in practical transformation, differs from the unity of knowledge and action advocated by ancient thinkers for self-cultivation and self-discipline. Ancient sages could only engage in personal cultivation, whereas Mao Zedong-led Communists, focusing on nurturing generations of new socialist persons and transforming society to advance human progress, integrated ideological transformation into the practical transformation of the real world through class struggle, production struggle, scientific experimentation, and other practices. Political and ideological work did not stop at simple preaching but adopted multiple methods, such as labor education, criticism and self-criticism, economic change, political revolution, social transformation, changing prevailing habits and customs, and breaking the old to establish the new. Among these were both violent storms and gentle breezes. In terms of both method and purpose, this was fundamentally different from the approaches of ancient thinkers.

这里需要说明的是，党的思想教育寓于实践改造的知行合一，与古代思想家主张的修心修身的知行合一是有区别的，古代圣贤只能是个人修行，而毛泽东领导的共产党人着眼于培养一代代社会主义新人和改造社会推动人类进步，将思想改造融入现实世界改造的阶级斗争、生产斗争、科学实验等实践中，思想政治工作不是停留于简单说教，而是采取多种方式，比如劳动教育、批评与自我批评、经济变革、政治革命、社会改造、移风易俗、破旧立新等，其中有暴风骤雨，也有微风细雨，从方法和目的来讲，都是与古代思想家不同的。

4. Adhering to the mass line and investigation and research

4. 坚持群众路线和调查研究

Going deep among the masses and conducting investigation and research can both analyze and identify the roots of various problems and find ways to overcome and solve them; the same applies to resolving political and ideological problems. Mao Zedong consistently adhered to going down to the grassroots for investigation and research, fully trusting and relying on the masses. Through individual talks with cadres and soldiers, holding forums, and other forms, he earnestly listened to and understood opinions and feedback from the masses, promoted democracy, pooled wisdom from all sides, and, in the process of resolving contradictions, further raised everyone’s ideological consciousness and level of understanding. As early as the revolutionary war years, Mao Zedong made it clear that political and ideological work must accomplish the “task of winning over the broad masses.”[14]14 Mao Zedong, “The Tasks of the Chinese Communist Party in the Period of Resistance to Japan,” Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 1, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1991, p. 96. [This note is numbered [14] because the original text’s citations [15], [12], [16], [17], [9], [13] are retained as given; the translator’s note sequence starts at [14] to avoid conflict with the author’s existing notes, which are not renumbered.] (P96) This first required going deep among the masses and conducting extensive and in-depth political and ideological work among the people, as he pointed out in his “Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan” regarding the spread of political propaganda to the countryside; emphasized at the Gutian Conference the need to organize and arm the masses through propaganda; stressed universal and deep political mobilization in “On Protracted War”; and, during the War of Liberation, pointed out the need to conduct extensive propaganda and educational work among the masses. Second, it required relying on the masses. For example, when guiding the running of newspapers and periodicals for political and ideological work, Mao Zedong pointed out that newspapers and periodicals should not be run “behind closed doors” but should face the masses, “be run by everyone, by the entire people, by the entire Party”; “newspaper workers, in order to educate the masses, must first learn from the masses.”[12]12 Mao Zedong, *Collected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 6, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999, pp. 449-450. (P1319-1320) Finally, propaganda must take forms that the masses find appealing and truly reflect the phenomena and problems that actually exist among the masses and in society. “Shoot an arrow at the target, play a lute to the audience”; starting from subjectivism cannot do political and ideological work well. Therefore, it is necessary to seek truth from facts, speaking not only of good situations and bright prospects but also of difficulties and problems, so that while building the people’s confidence in victory, they also understand that the path is tortuous and that they must bravely face difficulties and struggle against them.

深入群众、调查研究，既可以分析查找产生各种问题的根源，又能找出克服和解决问题的办法，解决思想政治问题也是一样。毛泽东一贯坚持深入基层调查研究，充分相信群众、依靠群众，通过找干部、战士个别谈话，召开座谈会等形式，认知听取和了解来自群众的意见和反映，发扬民主，集思广益，在矛盾化解过程中使大家进一步提高思想觉悟和认识水平。早在革命战争年代，毛泽东就明确思想政治工作要完成“争取广大群众的任务”。[15](P96)这首先需要深入群众，在人民群众中间广泛深入开展思想政治工作，如他在《湖南农民运动考察报告》中指出的政治宣传普及乡村；在古田会议上强调通过宣传组织群众、武装群众；在《论持久战》中强调的普遍和深入的政治动员；在解放战争时期指出要在人民群众中间进行广泛的宣传教育工作；等等。其次，需要依靠群众。如毛泽东在指导办刊办报开展思想政治工作时就指出，报刊不应“关门”办，要面向群众，“靠大家来办，靠全体人民群众来办，靠全党来办”；“报纸工作人员为了教育群众，首先要向群众学习”。[12](P1319-1320)最后，宣传要通过群众喜闻乐见的形式，真实反映群众和社会中间真实存在的现象和问题，“射箭看靶子，弹琴看听众”，从主观主义出发做不好思想政治工作，因此要实事求是，既要讲好的形势和光明前途，也要讲困难和问题，使人民在建立胜利信心的同时，也使他们明了道路是曲折的，要勇于直面困难、向困难作斗争。

It was precisely on the basis of adhering to the mass line that the “trend of investigation and research” could propel the Party to do political and ideological work well and achieve better results. At the Seventh National Congress of the CPC, Mao Zedong pointed out: “Now we have investigation and research. At the same time, we hope that comrades working in the south, in the north, in the east, and in the west will offer more opinions. We must open the windows to let the air circulate, listen to news, listen to public opinion, and correct any shortcomings or mistakes that exist.”[16]16 The reference “[19]” in the original text points to a source in the author’s bibliography; it is retained as given. (P344) When socialist construction in New China encountered setbacks, Mao Zedong even more proposed to “resolutely follow the mass line, learn from the masses, and vigorously promote the trend of investigation and research.”[17]17 “Three great mountains” is a standard Chinese Communist Party historical term referring to imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism, which were said to have oppressed the Chinese people before 1949. (P268) Only by finding real problems through investigation and research can we get closer to the masses, clarify the correct direction of political and ideological work, and concentrate strength to drive the completion of the Party’s central tasks in different periods.

正是在坚持群众路线基础上，“调查研究之风”能够推动党做好思想政治工作，使之达到更好的效果。在党的七大上，毛泽东指出：“现在我们有了调查研究。同时希望在南方、在北方、在东方、在西方工作的地方同志多提出意见。要把窗户打开，让空气流通，听听消息，听听舆论，优缺点有错误的改正一下。”[16](P344)在新中国社会主义建设碰到曲折时，毛泽东更是提出要“坚决走群众路线，向群众请教、大兴调查研究之风”。[17](P268)通过调查研究，找到真问题，才能进一步贴近群众，明确思想政治工作的正确方向，凝练力量推动完成不同时期党的中心任务。

5. Adhering to “learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones, and cure the sickness to save the patient,” not engaging in harsh struggle or physical elimination

5. 坚持惩前毖后、治病救人，不搞严酷斗争、不搞肉体消灭

The political and ideological work led by Mao Zedong consistently implemented the policy of “learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones, and cure the sickness to save the patient,” with the aim of resolving problems from an ideological and cognitive perspective. It resolutely corrected the erroneous practices of harsh struggle and physical elimination that had appeared in previous intra-Party reviews, and did not permit personal attacks or physical elimination. Even when dealing with prisoners of war and war criminals, none were killed and generally none were sentenced; instead, through the method of labor reform, they were transformed in their lives into self-reliant workers, and in their ideological understanding, they turned over a new leaf and were spiritually reborn. On this point, Mao Zedong particularly emphasized adopting the method of persuasion and education, opposing coercive orders and suppression. This method was proposed by Mao Zedong in “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People,” but it had already been adopted as early as the revolutionary war years. After the founding of New China, when the people had their own political power, the relationship between this political power and the people was basically one of internal relations among the people, and the method of persuasion should be used even more. “Suppression” served as an auxiliary means to “persuasion.”[9]9 Mao Zedong, *Collected Military Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 2, Beijing: Military Science Press and Central Party Literature Press, 1993, p. 695. (P351) In political and ideological work directed at the middle-of-the-roaders and the opposition, Mao Zedong pointed out: “All those who are willing to cooperate with us and whom we can possibly win over to cooperate with us must be patiently helped, educated, and transformed, cooperating well with them, and gradually eliminating all traces of the former reactionaries and their political influence through transformation, replacing the reactionary ideology of the Kuomintang with Marxist-Leninist ideology.”[13]13 Mao Zedong, *Collected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 8, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999, p. 467. (P11) For contradictions among the people, it is even more necessary to conduct ideological transformation through discussion, criticism, and the method of persuasion and education. The main purpose is to better unite the people through political and ideological work, effectively carry out production, study, and improve life. Regarding erroneous ideas, “if there are mistakes, they must be criticized; if there are poisonous weeds, they must be struggled against. But what kind of criticism should not be dogmatic, should not use metaphysical methods, and should strive to use dialectical methods. There must be scientific analysis and full persuasiveness.”[9]9 Mao Zedong, *Collected Military Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 2, Beijing: Military Science Press and Central Party Literature Press, 1993, p. 695. (P232-233) In the process of propagating Marxism, it is also necessary to conduct political and ideological work better and solve people’s ideological problems through persuasion rather than coercion, using the method of presenting facts and reasoning. “Without evidence, the people will not believe; without belief, they will not follow.” In the process of ideological transformation and raising ideological awareness, Mao Zedong also particularly emphasized the method of grasping typical cases and commending advanced models, especially in opposing bad people and bad deeds and solving ideological problems: “Typical good people and good deeds from various places should be investigated, analyzed, and commended, so that the entire Party looks up to these good models, promotes healthy tendencies, and overwhelms unhealthy tendencies.”[13]13 Mao Zedong, *Collected Works of Mao Zedong*, vol. 8, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1999, p. 467. (P255) Only with typical cases and healthy tendencies can persuasion and education work be better carried out and people be better convinced.

毛泽东领导开展的思想政治工作，坚持贯彻惩前毖后、治病救人的方针，目的在于从思想认识上解决问题。坚决纠正之前党内审查出现过的严酷斗争和肉体消灭的错误做法，不允许搞人身攻击和肉体消灭，即使对待俘虏战犯，也一个不杀、一般不判，通过采取劳动改造方式，让他们在生活上改造成为自食其力的劳动者，在思想认识上洗心革面，精神上重新做人。对此，毛泽东特别强调，要采取说服教育的方法，反对强迫命令和压服。这一方法是毛泽东在《关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题》中提出的，但早在革命战争年代就已经开始采用。新中国成立后，在人民有了自己的政权以后，这个政权同人民的关系，就基本上是人民内部的关系，更要采用说服的办法。“压服”作为“说服”的辅助手段，[9](P351)在面对中间派和反对派的思想政治工作中，毛泽东指出，“凡愿意同我们合作与可能争取同我们合作的人，都要耐心帮助、教育、改造，很好地同他们合作，从改造中逐步肃清过去反动派的一切遗迹和对他们的政治影响，以马列主义思想代替国民党的反动思想”。[13](P11)对于人民内部矛盾，更需要通过讨论、批评、说服教育的方法，进行思想改造，主要目的是通过思想政治工作更好团结人民，有效进行生产、进行学习、搞好生活。对于错误思想，“有错误就得批判，有毒草就得进行斗争。但是何种批评不应是教条主义的，不应当用形而上学方法，应当力求用辩证方法。要有科学的分析，要有充分的说服力”。[9](P232-233)在宣传马克思主义的过程中，也需要通过说服而非强迫的方式，用摆事实、讲道理的方法，更好开展思想政治工作，解决人们的思想问题。“无证民不信，不信民不从”。在进行思想改造、提升思想认识的过程中，毛泽东还特别重视抓典型、表彰先进的办法，尤其是在反对坏人坏事、解决思想问题的过程中，“应将各地典型的好人好事加以调查分析和表扬，使全党都向这些好的典型看齐，发扬正气，压倒邪气”。[13](P255)有了典型和正气，也才能更好进行说服教育工作，才能更好说服人。

Through the above review and summary of historical experience, we can also gain insights into the effectiveness of political and ideological work in today’s market economy environment, where material interests dominate. Without a genuine process of education and transformation in thought, relying solely on empty preaching or narrow interest mechanisms such as legal punishment, fines, and material rewards makes it difficult to raise people’s ideological consciousness and the moral level of the entire society. On the one hand, rampant material desires render empty propaganda pale and powerless; on the other hand, legal punishment measures only serve as a bottom-line warning. A society that only sets a bottom line will dissolve lofty ideal pursuits, and material incentives will only make people pay more attention to material interests. Therefore, how to effectively embed political and ideological work into practical work is also a contemporary issue that our cultural-ethical progress needs to study.

通过上述历史经验总结回顾，使我们对当今在物质利益占据主导的市场经济环境中思想政治工作的效能也有所启迪，如果没有思想上切实的教育改造环节，单靠空洞说教或靠法治惩处、罚款、奖励等狭隘的利益机制，很难提升人们的思想觉悟和整个社会的道德境界，一则物欲盛行使空洞宣教显得苍白无力，二则法治惩戒措施只是底线警戒，只设底线的社会就会消解高尚的理想追求，物质刺激只会更加使人关注物质利益。因此，如何在实际工作中有效嵌入思想政治工作，也是我们精神文明建设需要研究的时代课题。

III. Self-Liberation and Self-Revolution: Doing Political and Ideological Work Well in the New Era

三、自我解放与自我革命：做好新时代思想政治工作

1. The purpose of political and ideological work is to fully mobilize the most central and active human factor in social production and social relations

1. 思想政治工作目的是充分调动社会生产和社会关系中最核心最活跃的人的因素

In human society, people are the subjects of social relations, the main force of social production, and the most active factor in the productive forces. People are spiritual subjects with thought; to fully mobilize their initiative, material incentives alone are absolutely insufficient, and ideological work among people must also be carried out. Viewed from the Party’s century-long development process, the Party’s ideological and political work has played the following main roles: First, awakening the subject consciousness of the masses and fully bringing out their spirit as masters of the house. Second, consolidating popular sentiment and direction, thoroughly changing the old society’s state of being like a sheet of loose sand, and greatly enhancing national cohesion and centripetal force. Third, comprehensively (universally) developing the people’s wisdom and greatly strengthening their capacity for innovation and creativity. The people’s wisdom is not merely about learning from books, nor do innovation capacity and creativity rely solely on book learning. Through ideological education, it is possible to impel the people to emancipate their thinking, elevate their ideological realm, dare to break through difficulties and obstacles, forge ahead with determination, overcome difficulties, and achieve victory. This is manifested not only in the innovation of ideological theory itself, but also through the innovation capacity and creativity of groups in all walks of life. In the new China, the broad masses of working people stood up and became masters of their own affairs; in all walks of life, there emerged many scientists, engineers, and technicians like Tu Youyou and Hua Luogeng who grew up rapidly from among ordinary people, and countless labor heroes, advanced figures, and grassroots mass leaders like Iron Man Wang Jinxi, peasant Guo Fenglian, and cadre Jiao Yulu who dared to conquer nature. Many literary masters and great artists, like Ding Ling, Mao Dun, Lao She, and Xian Xinghai, after undergoing ideological remolding through proletarian revolutionary culture and a transformation of their world outlook, created a large number of literary and artistic works that praised the people and exalted the new society’s new people and new things. The people’s army led by the Party produced countless heroes, whether in the era of revolutionary war or in the period of peaceful construction. In short, the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China are filled with a spirit of arduous struggle and conquering nature, as well as a spirit of unity, fraternity, mutual assistance, and cooperation. This spirit originates from a thorough revolution in world outlook, outlook on life, and values at the depths of thought, which transforms old people into new people, old appearances into new faces, and the sun and moon into a new sky.

人类社会中，人是社会关系的主体，是社会生产的主体力量，是生产力最活跃的因素。人是有思想的精神主体，充分调动人的积极性，仅靠物质刺激绝对不够，还必须做人的思想工作。从党的百年发展历程来看，党的思想政治工作起到以下主要作用：第一，唤醒人民群众的主体意识，充分发挥出主人翁精神。第二，凝聚民心所向，彻底改变旧社会一盘散沙状况，大大增强民族凝聚力和向心力。第三，全面（普遍）开发民智，大力增强民众创新力和创造力。民智不仅是学习书本知识，创新能力和创造力也不是仅仅依赖书本学习。通过思想教育能够促使人民解放思想，提升思想境界，敢于冲破艰难险阻，锐意进取，战胜困难，取得胜利。这不仅表现在思想理论本身的创新上，而且通过各行各业群体的创新和创造力体现出来。新中国广大劳动人民翻身做主人，各行各业涌现出许许多多像屠呦呦、华罗庚一样从普通民众中迅速成长起来的科学家、工程师、技术员等，涌现出无数个像铁人王进喜、农民郭凤莲、干部焦裕禄一样敢于战天斗地的劳动英雄、先进人物和基层群众带头人。许多文学家和艺术大师像丁玲、矛盾、老舍、冼星海一样经过无产阶级革命文化的思想改造和世界观转变之后，创作了大量歌颂人民、高扬新社会新人新事的文艺作品。党领导的人民军队无论是在革命战争年代还是在和平建设时期涌现的英雄人物更是数不胜数。总之，中国共产党领导下的中国人民，充满艰苦奋斗、战天斗地的精神，也充满团结友爱、互助合作的精神，这种精神源于思想深处世界观、人生观、价值观的彻底革命，使得旧人变新人，旧貌换新颜，日月换新天。

2. Ideological and political work is the magic weapon for the Party to lead the people in self-liberation and self-revolution

2. 思想政治工作是党领导人民自我解放和自我革命的制胜法宝

One important reason why the Communist Party of China and the broad masses of the people it represents and leads differ from other political parties and interest groups in human history lies in the fact that, after class consciousness is awakened, they achieve self-liberation through self-education, self-remolding, and self-revolution, relying on no savior or divine emperor, thereby becoming a new type of social subject force with the greatest historical initiative. Mao Zedong once proposed “striving for one’s own liberation.” [18][15]15 The reference “[18]” in the original text points to a source in the author’s bibliography; it is retained as given. (P47) Through ideological and political work, the Party awakens the subject consciousness of hundreds of millions of working people, sweeps away the old society’s state of ignorance and policy of keeping the people in ignorance, and enables the masses to actively throw themselves into the social practice of revolution and construction. It can be said that the magic weapon for the proletariat’s self-revolution, self-liberation, and self-realization is precisely ideological and political work. In human history, not every class or every party is capable of carrying out ideological and political work for the purpose of awakening the subject consciousness of the masses and achieving self-liberation. The exploiting classes and interest groups actually adopt a policy of keeping the people in ignorance; the political aim of the proletarian party is to overthrow the old system in which a minority rules the majority and to establish a new social system in which the working people are masters of their own affairs. For the working people to be masters of their own affairs means allowing the broad masses to decide their own destiny, liberate themselves, achieve self-sufficiency through their own labor, and become self-confident, self-reliant, and self-strengthening. This requires taking the cultivation of new people for the new society as the goal, placing people’s work in an important position, thoroughly discarding the old society’s autocratic policy of keeping the people in ignorance, forming a scientific world outlook and methodology through systematic education in the popularization of Marxism, first liberating oneself in thought, and achieving people’s self-awakening, self-revolution, self-redemption, and self-liberation in the transformation of the spiritual world.

中国共产党及其代表和领导的广大人民群众之所以不同于人类历史上其他的党派和利益群体，其中重要一点就在于阶级觉悟之后通过自我教育、自我改造、自我革命来实现自我解放，不靠救世主和神仙皇帝，从而成为最具历史主动性的新型社会主体力量。毛泽东就曾提出“为解放自己而奋斗”。[18](P47)党通过思想政治工作唤起亿万劳动人民的主体意识，一扫旧社会的愚昧状态和愚民政策，使人民群众积极投身革命和建设的社会实践。可以说，无产阶级这种自我革命、自我解放、自我实现的制胜法宝就是思想政治工作。在人类历史上，不是任何阶级任何党派都能够为了唤醒人民群众的主体意识、实现自我解放而去做思想政治工作。剥削阶级及利益集团实际采取的是愚民政策，无产阶级政党的政治目的是推翻少数人统治多数人的旧制度、建立劳动人民当家做主人的新社会制度。劳动人民当家作主也就是让广大人民群众自己决定自己的命运，自己解放自己，自己动手丰衣足食，做到自信自立自强。这就要求以培育新社会的新人为目的，把人的工作放在重要地位，彻底抛弃旧社会专制制度下的愚民政策，通过马克思主义大众化的系统教育形成科学的世界观和方法论，先从思想上解放自己，在精神世界变革中达成人的自我觉醒、自我革命、自我救赎、自我解放。

Viewed from historical experience and lessons, even for a proletarian party, maintaining its advanced nature is no easy task; the interfering factors come mainly from the complexity of the class base and the temptation of material interests. In the history of the Communist Party of China, there was no doctrine of exclusive class origin; most of the older generation of revolutionaries were not from a purely working-class background. The Party Central Committee and Mao Zedong adopted the method of building the Party ideologically, absorbing large numbers of people, mainly peasants and the petty bourgeoisie, into the revolutionary ranks, and through ideological and political work, remolding them into vanguard fighters of the proletariat and revolutionary soldiers. Class origin is not the main issue, nor is quantity the key; combat effectiveness lies not in numbers, but in the state of spirit. In the past, the reduction in the number of the Chinese working class did not weaken the class base of the revolutionary regime. Similarly, in the period of peaceful construction, due to interference, sabotage, and disruption from various quarters, some socialist countries that had degenerated or evolved (such as the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe) could transform a socialist regime with a solid proletarian base into a bureaucratic capitalist empire. From this it can be seen that the self-revolution proposed by the Communist Party of China in the New Era is, in essence, an ideological struggle in the depths of the soul; once ideological and political work is weakened, true self-revolution becomes impossible.

从历史经验和教训看，即使无产阶级政党要保持先进性也并非易事，其干扰因素主要来自阶级基础的复杂性和物质利益的诱惑。中国共产党历史上并没有唯成分论，老一辈革命家大多数并非是纯而又纯的工人阶级出身，党中央和毛泽东采取思想建党的方法，把农民、小资产阶级为主要成分的大量民众吸收进革命队伍，通过思想政治工作将其改造成为无产阶级先锋队员和革命战士。出身不是主要问题，数量也不是关键，战斗力不在数量多少，而在于精神状态。过去中国工人阶级数量的减少并没有削弱革命政权的阶级基础。同样，在和平建设时期，由于各方面的干扰、破坏、捣乱，一些蜕变或演变的社会主义国家也可以把无产阶级基础雄厚的社会主义政权（比如苏联、东欧）变成官僚资本主义帝国。由此可见，中国共产党在新时代提出的自我革命，本质上是灵魂深处的思想斗争，思想政治工作一旦削弱就不可能真正做到自我革命。

3. Ideological and political work is the magic weapon for the Party and the people to enhance their historical initiative

3. 思想政治工作是党和人民增强历史主动性的制胜法宝

Historical initiative is a very high ideological realm; in essence, it is also a kind of consciousness, a manifestation of the proletariat’s conscious class consciousness. Not everyone in any social system possesses historical initiative. For the broad masses of working people who are exploited and oppressed in an exploiting society, it is difficult to form a conscious class consciousness and historical initiative consciousness. The ruling exploiting classes, in order to maintain their monopoly position and group interests, are even less likely to voluntarily give up their vested interests and carry out changes or self-revolution that promote social progress. The bourgeois revolution is also a process of social change that spontaneously forms for the purpose of capital extracting greater surplus value. Only when the proletariat, guided by the scientific theory of Marxism, achieves ideological emancipation can it form a conscious class consciousness, and then, led by its vanguard organization, the Communist Party, it can coalesce, unite in struggle, first shatter its own physical and mental chains, and then, through revolutionary movements, smash the old world and build a new world, liberating itself in the historical process of liberating all humanity. This historical initiative possessed by the proletariat is also the historical initiative and creativity displayed by the Communist Party of China in leading the Chinese people through the long-term practice of revolution, construction, and reform.

历史主动性是一种很高的思想境界，本质上也是一种自觉，是无产阶级自觉的阶级意识的体现，不是任何社会制度中的人都具有历史主动性。对于在剥削社会中受剥削受压迫的广大劳动人民来说，很难形成自觉的阶级意识和历史主动意识，而居于统治地位的剥削阶级为了维护自己的垄断地位和集团利益，更不可能主动放弃既得权益而进行促进社会进步的变革或自我革命。资产阶级革命也是为着资本牟取更大剩余价值而自发形成的社会变革过程。只有无产阶级通过马克思主义科学理论指导获得思想解放后才能形成自觉的阶级意识，进而在自己的先锋队组织共产党的带领下凝聚起来、团结战斗，首先砸碎自己的身心锁链，进而通过革命运动打碎旧世界，建设新世界，在实现解放全人类的历史进程中解放自己。这种无产阶级所具有的历史主动性，也是中国共产党领导中国人民在长期革命、建设、改革实践中呈现的历史主动性和创造性。

The historical initiative of the Party and the people is manifested through ideological emancipation, theoretical consciousness, active practice, and path consciousness. It must begin with the establishment of an ism, as is well known: without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement. On November 25, 1920, the 27-year-old young Mao Zedong, in his letters to fellow members of the Xinmin Society, including Xiang Jingyu, Ouyang Ze, and Luo Zhanglong, said: “An ism is like a banner; once the banner is raised, people have something to look to and know where to go.” [19][16]16 The reference “[19]” in the original text points to a source in the author’s bibliography; it is retained as given. (P554) The Marxist proletarian world outlook and scientific methodology are sharp ideological weapons that stir up revolution in the depths of people’s souls. The popularization and universal education of Marxism thoroughly and completely reshapes the spiritual world of the Chinese people. The subject consciousness of the masses as creators of history is a subjective consciousness with historical initiative. Applying Marxist theory from China’s actual conditions and achieving the leap of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times is, in essence, a theoretical consciousness with historical initiative. This is both the constructive principle for the innovative development of the guiding ideology of the Communist Party of China and the constructive principle for the inheritance and development of Chinese culture (cognitive system, scholarship). In the practical exploration of combining theory with practice, the Communist Party of China led the people in opening up the path of the new-democratic revolution, overthrowing the three great mountains [17]17 “Three great mountains” is a standard Chinese Communist Party historical term referring to imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism, which were said to have oppressed the Chinese people before 1949. oppressing the Chinese people, establishing the new China where the people are masters of their own affairs, and then, through socialist revolution, construction, and reform and opening up, opening up the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the path of Chinese-path modernization. On the journey from standing up, becoming prosperous, to becoming strong, the Chinese people advance toward the dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; this is even more an active practice and path consciousness with historical initiative.

党和人民的历史主动性通过思想解放、理论自觉、能动实践、道路自觉展现出来。首先要从确立主义开始，正如大家熟知的道理，没有革命的理论，就不会有革命的运动。1920年11月25日，27岁的青年毛泽东在他写给新民学会会员向警予、欧阳泽、罗章龙等人的信中这样说道：“主义譬如一面旗子，旗子立起了，大家才有所指望，才知所趋赴。”[19](P554)马克思主义的无产阶级世界观和科学方法论是激发人们灵魂深处闹革命的锐利思想武器，马克思主义大众化普及教育全面彻底地重塑中国人的精神世界，人民群众创造历史的主体意识是具有历史主动性的主观自觉。从中国实际出发运用马克思主义理论，实现马克思主义中国化时代化的飞跃，本质上是具有历史主动性的理论自觉。这既是中国共产党指导思想创新发展的建构原理，又是中国文化（认知体系、学术）传承发展的建构原理。在理论与实际结合的实践探索中，中国共产党领导人民开辟出新民主主义革命道路，推翻压迫中国人民的三座大山，建立人民当家作主的新中国，进而经过社会主义革命、建设和改革开放，开创了中国特色社会主义道路和中国式现代化道路，中国人民在站起来、富起来、强起来的征途上向着民族伟大复兴的梦想进发，这更是一种具有历史主动性的能动实践和道路自觉。

(Author’s bio: Cao Yongxin, professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Marxism, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者简介：曹泳鑫，上海社会科学院马克思主义学院教授、博士生导师）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心