Mao Zedong’s Thought on Independence and Self-Reliance in Cultural Construction and Its Contemporary Value

As a great proletarian theoretician and a pioneer in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context, Mao Zedong placed great emphasis on the exploration and practice of cultural construction. By integrating the fundamental principles of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture, he blazed a path of independent cultural construction. Studying Mao Zedong’s thought on independence and self-reliance in cultural construction helps deepen our understanding of the path of cultural construction taken by the Communist Party of China. It is of great significance for maintaining spiritual independence and self-reliance in the New Era and for further advancing the building of a socialist cultural power.

作为伟大的无产阶级理论家和马克思主义中国化的开拓者，毛泽东高度重视文化建设事业的探索和实践，并且结合马克思主义基本原理和中华优秀传统文化，探索出一条独立自主进行文化建设的道路。研究毛泽东关于文化建设独立自主的思想，有助于我们深化对中国共产党文化建设道路的认识，对于我们在新时代保持精神上的独立自主、进一步推动社会主义文化强国建设，具有重要的意义。

I. The Course of Mao Zedong’s Exploration of Independent Cultural Construction

一、毛泽东探索独立自主进行文化建设的历程

As early as his youth, Mao Zedong developed a character of independence and self-reliance, never blindly following others. During his studies at the First Normal School of Hunan, Mao cultivated the habit of independent thinking, advocating independent research in scholarship. In the summer of 1917, Mao wrote a preface for Xiao Zisheng’s reading notes *All Things Return to One* (一切入一), criticizing the malady of old Chinese learning as “being mixed up and lacking order, with classification based on the Classics, Histories, Masters, and Collections, where politics and religion were combined, and the profound and the obvious were indistinguishable,” and advocating a method of scholarship imbued with a critical spirit. In August of the same year, Mao wrote a long letter to Li Jinxi, discussing the “great foundation and great source” (大本大源) for saving the nation and its people, expressing the wish that “everyone acts according to their own true convictions, not blindly following the right and wrong of others.” [1]1 Li Jinxi (黎锦熙, 1890–1978) was a Chinese linguist and educator, then a teacher at the First Normal School of Hunan. During this period, Mao’s advocacy of independence and self-reliance in cultural thought stemmed from his understanding of the autonomy of the internal movement of things in the universe. For example, in his annotations to *Principles of Ethics* (伦理学原理), Mao held: “The activities of a person’s life are nothing but activities obeying the self; the activities of all things in the universe are nothing but activities obeying the self of each thing.”

早在青年时期，毛泽东就形成了独立自主的思想品格，从不依附盲从他人。在湖南一师读书期间，毛泽东养成了独立思考的习惯，主张治学上的独立研究。1917年夏，毛泽东为萧子升的读书札记《一切入一》作序，批评中国旧学的弊病“在于混杂而无章，分类则以经、史、子、集，政教合一，玄著不分”，倡导具有批判精神的治学之法。同年8月，毛泽东致黎锦熙长信，探讨救国救民的“大本大源”问题，提出“人人依自己真正主张以行，不盲从他人是非”的愿望。这一时期，毛泽东关于文化思想上独立自主的主张，源于他对宇宙间事物内部运动自主性的认识。例如，在《伦理学原理》批注中，毛泽东认为：“吾人一生之活动服从自我之活动而已，宇宙间各物之活动，各物从服自我之活动而已。”

In 1919, following the ideological liberation trend of the May Fourth Movement, Mao further advanced the proposition of cultural independence and self-reliance. In the inaugural manifesto of the *Xiangjiang Review* (湘江评论), Mao called for “thorough research” (澈底研究) in scholarship and directly declared, “Be bound by no legends or superstitions; seek out what truth is.” [2]2 The *Xiangjiang Review* was a weekly founded by Mao Zedong in Changsha in July 1919, serving as a platform for spreading new thought during the May Fourth Movement. Here, “legends and superstitions” referred not only to the feudal culture that imprisoned thought but also to the hegemonic culture of Western capitalism, reflecting Mao’s thought of defying authority in the pursuit of “new trends of thought.” It should be noted that Mao’s cultural propositions during the May Fourth period bore a strong characteristic of “breaking with feudalism.” In November 1919, Zhao Wuzhen, a young woman in Changsha, was forced to commit suicide to resist an arranged marriage by her parents, sparking heated public debate. The next day, Mao published a commentary: “Yesterday’s incident is a very major one. Behind this incident lie the corruption of the marriage system, the darkness of the social system, the inability to achieve independence in thought, and the lack of freedom in love.” Mao elevated an individual incident to an indictment of the entire feudal system, reflecting his reflection on the whole feudal cultural system. The fundamental purpose of cultural independence and self-reliance was to create a new culture. In this regard, Mao stated directly in the manifesto written for the Cultural Book Society: “Our goal—that every Hunanese person, like you, sir, makes progress in thought, thereby giving birth to a new culture. Our method—to sincerely and earnestly do the work of introducing new books and newspapers, ensuring that new books and newspapers are widely disseminated throughout Hunan Province.”

1919 年，伴随着五四运动的思想解放潮流，毛泽东进一步提出文化独立自主的主张。在《湘江评论》的创刊宣言中，毛泽东便提出学术上的“澈底研究”，并直呼“不受一切传说和迷信的束缚，要寻着什么是真理”。在这里，“传说和迷信”不只是禁锢思想的封建文化，更有西方资本主义的强权文化，体现了毛泽东为寻求“新思潮”而不惧权威的思想。需要说明的是，五四时期毛泽东的文化主张，体现了浓厚的“与封建决裂”的思想特征。1919年11月，长沙女青年赵五贞为反抗父母包办婚姻而被迫自杀，引起当时社会舆论的热议。次日，毛泽东发表评论：“昨日的事件，是一个很大的事件。这事件背后，是婚姻制度的腐败，社会制度的黑暗，意想的不能独立，恋爱不能自由。”毛泽东由个体事件上升到对整个封建制度的鞭挞，体现了他对整个封建文化体系的反思。文化上的独立自主，根本目的是创造一种新文化。对此，毛泽东在为文化书社所写的宣言中直言：“我们的目的——湖南人个个像先生一样思想得了进步，因而产生出一种新文化。我们的方法——至诚恳切的做介绍新书报的工〔作〕，务使新书报普播湖南省。”

After the founding of the Communist Party of China, Mao threw himself into the vigorous revolutionary movement. To accomplish the historical task of opposing imperialism and feudalism, it was necessary not only to wage arduous political and military struggles but also to carry out struggles on the ideological and cultural front. During the Great Revolution period, while vigorously promoting political and military movements, Mao also focused on advancing the development of cultural movements in light of actual conditions. In November 1925, when replying to the Reorganization Committee of the Young China Association, Mao specifically put forward requirements for cultural work: “Study the social sciences, with a current emphasis on studying China’s peasant problem.” [3]3 The Young China Association (少年中国学会) was a progressive intellectual organization founded in 1919, active in cultural and social reform. Mao’s call was based on China’s actual national conditions. At that time, peasants accounted for about 80% of the national population, of whom owner-peasants made up about 50%, semi-owner-peasants about 20%, and tenant peasants about 30%. Thus, studying the peasant problem clearly in the social sciences was of paramount importance for advancing the revolutionary movement at that time. Mao not only regarded peasants as objects of cultural study but also advocated treating peasants as cultural subjects themselves, raising their cultural level. In his *Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan*, Mao pointed out that the “cultural deformity” under feudal society was precisely because “in China, only the landlords have had culture, while the peasants have had none. Yet the culture of the landlords is created by the peasants, for what creates the landlords’ culture is nothing other than the blood and sweat extracted from the peasants.” In the revolutionary movement, the widespread campaigns in rural Hunan to “run night schools” and “run peasant schools” rapidly raised the cultural level of the peasants. Mao highly praised this. The rise of the rural cultural movement was of considerable significance for breaking free from the “cultural rule” of the landlord class and carrying out independent cultural construction.

中国共产党成立之后，毛泽东投身于轰轰烈烈的革命运动。要完成反帝反封建的历史任务，不仅需要艰苦卓绝的政治斗争和军事斗争，而且也需要进行思想文化战线的斗争。大革命时期，毛泽东在着力推动政治运动和军事运动的同时，也注重结合实际推动文化运动的发展。1925年11月，毛泽东答复少年中国学会改组委员会时，着重提出了对于文化事业的要求——“研究社会科学，现在注重研究中国农民问题”。毛泽东的号召是从中国实际国情出发的。当时，农民人数约占全国总人数的80%，其中自耕农约占50%，半自耕农约占20%，佃农约占30%。可见，在社会科学上研究清楚农民问题，对于推进当时的革命运动具有极为重要的意义。毛泽东不仅将农民作为文化上的研究对象，还主张将农民作为文化主体本身，提高农民的文化水平。在《湖南农民运动考察报告》中，毛泽东指出，封建社会下“文化畸形”的状况其原因正在于“中国历来只是地主有文化，农民没有文化。可是地主的文化是由农民造成的，因为造成地主文化的东西，不是别的，正是从农民身上掠取的血汗”。而在革命运动中，湖南广大农村地区开展“办夜学”“办农民学校”运动，使得农民的文化程度迅速地提高了。毛泽东对此大为称赞。农村文化运动的兴起，对于摆脱地主阶级的“文化统治”，开展独立自主的文化建设，具有相当重要的意义。

During the Agrarian Revolutionary War period, while the Kuomintang reactionaries carried out military “encirclement and suppression” campaigns against the Red Army and the revolutionary base areas, they also launched cultural “encirclement and suppression” campaigns. [4]4 The Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927–1937) refers to the period of the Chinese Civil War when the CPC established rural base areas and waged armed struggle against the Kuomintang. In response, the Communist Party of China waged a counter-“encirclement and suppression” struggle on the cultural front from two aspects. On the one hand, using the “Left-Wing Writers’ League” (左联) as a platform, it opened up a broad revolutionary cultural front. [5]5 The Left-Wing Writers’ League (左联), founded in 1930 in Shanghai, was a literary organization led by the CPC, with Lu Xun as its de facto leader. At that time, the League carried out work in all important regions of the country, successively publishing many periodicals such as *Sprouts* (萌芽), *Pioneers* (拓荒者), *Modern Fiction* (现代小说), and *Mass Literature* (大众文学). Its leading figure, Lu Xun, published a large number of highly combative articles, directly targeting Chiang Kai-shek and his imperialist reactionaries. Lu Xun also particularly emphasized a literary and artistic path suited to China’s actual conditions. In 1936, Lu Xun wrote a *Letter in Reply to the Trotskyites* (答托洛茨基派的信) to Chen Zhongshan of the “Trotskyite” faction, criticizing literary forms that did not conform to China’s national conditions, stating: “Those who fight and bleed, treading solidly on the ground, for the survival of present-day Chinese—I consider them my comrades, and I regard it as an honor.” The struggle of Lu Xun and the League played an important role in breaking the cultural “encirclement and suppression” and consolidating the Party’s cultural front. Mao later commented on this: “The enemy’s ‘pillboxes’ were built in schools, in books, newspapers, and magazines, and in social, cultural, and educational organizations, also showing a posture of ‘consolidating positions steadily and advancing step by step.’ On this point, we need only look at Lu Xun’s miscellaneous essays to understand. His combative essays attacking current ills were precisely aimed at opposing the cultural ‘encirclement and suppression’ and opposing the oppression of young people’s thought.” On the other hand, Mao advocated cultural research and social science research suited to China’s national conditions. In 1930, Mao wrote the article *Oppose Book Worship* (反对本本主义), criticizing dogmatic social science research, pointing out that “the book-worshipping method of social science research is equally the most dangerous, and may even lead to the path of counter-revolution. How many Communist Party members in China who specialized in social science research, living entirely from books, have not become counter-revolutionaries one batch after another?” [6]6 *Oppose Book Worship* (反对本本主义), originally titled *Investigation and Practice* (调查工作), was Mao’s 1930 essay criticizing dogmatic adherence to texts and advocating investigation of actual conditions. After the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army reached the Shaanxi-Gansu Soviet Area, Mao particularly advocated the use of social science reading materials written by Chinese Marxist scholars to carry out cultural construction in the base areas. In October 1936, Mao wrote to Ye Jianying and Liu Ding, instructing them: “Buy a batch of popular social science, natural science, and philosophy books, about ten to fifteen kinds in total, which must be selected as truly popular and valuable (such as Ai Siqi’s *Popular Philosophy* (大众哲学), Liu Zhi’s *Street Talks* (街头讲话), etc.).” When popularizing these cultural readings, he specifically emphasized using them “for raising the political and cultural level of cadres in schools and the army.” In May 1937, Mao directly proposed “implementing necessary cultural construction” in the base areas. Mao’s propositions on countering the cultural “encirclement and suppression” constituted an important component of his thought on independence and self-reliance in cultural construction.

土地革命战争时期，国民党反动派在对红军和革命根据地进行军事“围剿”的同时，也开展了文化“围剿”。针对这种情况，中国共产党从两个方面开展文化战线上的反“围剿”斗争。一方面，以“左联”为平台，开辟广大的革命文化阵地。当时，“左联”在全国各重要地区开展了工作，先后主办了《萌芽》《拓荒者》《现代小说》《大众文学》等许多种刊物，领军人物鲁迅更是发表了大量具有强烈战斗性的文章，锋芒直指蒋介石及其帝国主义反动派。鲁迅还特别强调符合中国实际的文艺道路。1936年，鲁迅给“托”派陈仲山写了一封《答托洛茨基派的信》，批判不符合中国国情的文艺形式，提出“那切切实实，足踏在地上，为着现在中国人的生存而流血奋斗者，我得引为同志，是自以为光荣”。鲁迅和“左联”的战斗为打破文化“围剿”、巩固党的文化阵地发挥了重要作用。对此，毛泽东后来评价：“敌人的‘碉堡’是建筑在学校里、书报杂志上以及社会文教团体里，也大有‘稳扎稳打、步步为营’之势。关于这一点，我们只要看一看鲁迅先生的杂感，就可以知道。他的抨击时弊的战斗的杂文，就是反对文化‘围剿’，反对压迫青年思想的。”另一方面，主张符合中国国情的文化研究和社会科学研究。1930年，毛泽东写作《反对本本主义》一文，批判教条主义式的社会科学研究，指出“本本主义的社会科学研究法也同样是最危险的，甚至可能走上反革命的道路，中国有许多专门从书本上讨生活的从事社会科学研究的共产党员，不是一批一批地成了反革命吗？”中国工农红军到达陕甘苏区之后，毛泽东尤其提倡中国马克思主义学者撰写的社会科学读物，以此来开展根据地的文化建设。1936年10月，毛泽东给叶剑英、刘鼎写信，吩咐“要买一批通俗的社会科学自然科学及哲学书，大约共买十种至十五种左右，要经过选择真正是通俗的而又有价值的（例如艾思奇的《大众哲学》，柳湜的《街头讲话》之类）”，在普及这些文化读物时，特地强调“作为学校与部队提高干部政治文化水平之用”。1937年5月，毛泽东更是直接提出，在根据地“实行必要的文化建设”。毛泽东关于反文化“围剿”的主张，构成了其文化建设独立自主思想的重要组成部分。

During the War of Resistance Against Japan by the entire nation, Mao Zedong developed deeper reflections on how to carry out cultural construction independently and self-reliantly, and on this basis formed the New Democratic cultural outlook. In January 1940, Mao Zedong systematically expounded the theory of New Democratic culture in *On New Democracy*, proposing a “national, scientific, and mass culture.” This cultural program fully embodied Mao Zedong’s advocacy of independence and self-reliance in cultural construction. On the one hand, in the face of foreign cultures, one must maintain a critical and independent stance. New Democratic culture “opposes imperialist oppression and upholds the dignity and independence of the Chinese nation,” absorbing the beneficial elements of socialist culture and New Democratic culture from other nations. Mao Zedong particularly emphasized: “All foreign things, just as we treat food, must pass through our own oral chewing and gastrointestinal movement, be sent through saliva, gastric juice, and intestinal juices, be broken down into two parts—the essence and the dregs—then excrete the dregs and absorb the essence, so that they can be beneficial to our body. They must never be swallowed whole and uncritically absorbed.” On the other hand, traditional culture must be critically absorbed. On this point, Mao Zedong specifically pointed out: “We must respect our own history and must never cut off history. But this respect means giving history a certain scientific status, respecting the dialectical development of history, not praising the past at the expense of the present, nor praising any feudal poison.”

全民族抗日战争时期，毛泽东对于如何独立自主地开展文化建设有了更加深入的思考，在此基础上形成新民主主义文化观。1940年1月，毛泽东在《新民主主义论》中系统阐述了新民主主义文化理论，提出“民族的科学的大众的文化”，这一文化纲领充分体现了毛泽东在文化建设上独立自主的主张。一方面，面对外来文化要保持批判性和独立性。新民主主义文化“反对帝国主义压迫，主张中华民族的尊严和独立”，吸收其他民族的社会主义文化和新民主主义文化的有益成分。毛泽东特别强调：“一切外国的东西，如同我们对于食物一样，必须经过自己的口腔咀嚼和胃肠运动，送进唾液胃液肠液，把它分解为精华和糟粕两部分，然后排泄其糟粕，吸收其精华，才能对我们的身体有益，决不能生吞活剥地毫无批判地吸收。”另一方面，要批判性吸收传统文化。对这一点，毛泽东特别指出：“我们必须尊重自己的历史，决不能割断历史。但是这种尊重，是给历史以一定的科学的地位，是尊重历史的辩证法的发展，而不是颂古非今，不是赞扬任何封建的毒素。”

While putting forward an independent cultural program, Mao Zedong also emphasized that in the “culture of the anti-Japanese united front,” the leadership of the proletariat must be upheld to ensure the direction of independent and self-reliant cultural development. Mao Zedong pointed out: “Since the present Chinese revolution cannot do without the leadership of the Chinese proletariat, the present Chinese new culture likewise cannot do without the leadership of the Chinese proletarian cultural ideology, that is, it cannot do without the leadership of communist ideology.” To consolidate the subjectivity of the proletariat in cultural construction, Mao Zedong attached great importance to the theoretical study of worker and peasant cadres, and took the construction of independent cultural teaching materials as an important lever. In 1942, the Xinhua Bookstore published the cadre education textbook *Cultural Textbook*, compiled by Kai Feng, Xu Teli, Fan Wenlan, and others. This was an important achievement of cultural construction in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Revolutionary Base Area. Mao Zedong highly praised this, pointing out: “Now the *Cultural Textbook* has been published. This is a great victory. It is the merit of Comrades Kai Feng, Xu Teli, and Fan Wenlan,” and he praised that “with this textbook, the door to learning culture has been opened.”

在提出独立的文化纲领的同时，毛泽东还强调在“抗日统一战线的文化”中要坚持无产阶级的领导权，确保文化独立自主的发展方向。毛泽东指出：“由于现时中国革命不能离开中国无产阶级的领导，因而现时的中国新文化也不能离开中国无产阶级文化思想的领导，即不能离开共产主义思想的领导。”为巩固无产阶级在文化建设中的主体性，毛泽东十分重视工农干部的理论学习，并且以自主的文化教材建设作为重要抓手。1942年，新华书店出版了由凯丰、徐特立、范文澜等人编写的干部教育教材《文化课本》，这是陕甘宁革命根据地文化建设的重要成果。毛泽东对此高度评价，指出“现在文化课本出版了，这是一大胜利，这是凯丰、徐特立、范文澜诸同志的功劳”，并且称赞“有了这个课本，就打开了学习文化的大门”。

During the War of Liberation, the Communist Party of China, through political and military victories, promoted a cultural revival. Mao Zedong highly affirmed this, pointing out: “This Chinese people’s culture, in terms of its spiritual aspect, has already surpassed the entire capitalist world.” On the eve of the founding of New China, Mao Zedong stated bluntly: “With the advent of the high tide of economic construction, a high tide of cultural construction will inevitably appear. The era when Chinese people were considered uncivilized has passed. We will appear in the world as a nation with a high level of culture.”

解放战争时期，中国共产党通过政治和军事上的胜利，推动了文化上的复兴，毛泽东对此予以高度肯定，指出“这种中国人民的文化，就其精神方面来说，已经超过了整个资本主义的世界”。新中国成立前夕，毛泽东直言：“随着经济建设的高潮的到来，不可避免地将要出现一个文化建设的高潮。中国人被人认为不文明的时代已经过去了，我们将以一个具有高度文化的民族出现于世界。”

After the founding of New China, Mao Zedong and other Chinese Communists, while learning from the Soviet Union’s experience in cultural construction, further explored an independent and self-reliant path of cultural construction. On the one hand, in the early days of New China, remnants of feudal culture, decadent bourgeois ideology, and Western culture still filled every corner of Chinese society, with diverse ideologies coexisting. Therefore, establishing the guiding position of Marxist ideology became the core task of cultural construction at that time. Mao Zedong highly valued the guidance of Marxism-Leninism and used it to ensure the correct direction of cultural construction. For example, at the opening ceremony of the Eighth National Congress of the Party, Mao Zedong pointed out: “Among many of our comrades, there still exist views and styles of work that violate Marxism-Leninism,” emphasizing the need to overcome shortcomings within the ranks through intra-Party education. On the other hand, continuing the literary and artistic creation thought of “making the past serve the present and weeding through the old to bring forth the new” proposed during the Yan’an period, the “Two Hundred Policy” was implemented, which differed from the Soviet path of cultural construction. In *On the Ten Major Relationships*, Mao Zedong specifically addressed the issue of autonomy in learning from the Soviet Union, pointing out: “We must learn with analysis and criticism, not blindly, not copying everything, not mechanically applying everything. Their shortcomings and defects, of course, should not be learned.” Different from the cultural dogmatism and revisionism of the Stalin period, Mao Zedong proposed the policy of “letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend.” In April 1956, at an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Mao Zedong stated: “Letting a hundred flowers bloom in art and a hundred schools of thought contend in academic issues, I think, should become our policy.” In 1957, Mao Zedong spoke with representatives from the literary and art circles, criticizing the dogmatism and commandism of the Soviet cultural construction methods, and again emphasized: “Our cultural and educational policy does not adopt their methods. We adopt a policy of letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend under leadership.”

新中国成立之后，毛泽东等中国共产党人在学习苏联文化建设经验的同时，进一步探索独立自主的文化建设道路。一方面，新中国成立初期，封建文化残余、资产阶级腐朽思想、西方文化仍充斥着中国社会角落，思想文化多元并存，因此树立马克思主义思想的指导地位成为当时文化建设的核心任务。毛泽东高度重视马克思列宁主义思想的指导，并以此来保障文化建设的正确方向。例如，在党的八大的开幕式上，毛泽东指出，“在我们的许多同志中间，仍然存在着违反马克思列宁主义的观点和作风”，强调通过党内教育克服队伍中的缺点。另一方面，延续延安时期提出的“古为今用，推陈出新”的文艺创作思想，实行有别于苏联文化建设道路的“双百方针”。在《论十大关系》中，毛泽东专门提到了学习苏联中的自主性问题，指出：“必须有分析有批判地学，不能盲目地学，不能一切照抄，机械搬用。他们的短处、缺点，当然不要学。”区别于斯大林时期的文化教条主义、修正主义，毛泽东提出“百花齐放，百家争鸣”的方针。1956年4月，在中共中央政治局扩大会议上，毛泽东提出：“艺术问题上的百花齐放，学术问题上的百家争鸣，我看应该成为我们的方针。”1957年，毛泽东同文艺界代表谈话，批判了苏联文化建设方法的教条主义、命令主义，再次强调：“我们的文化教育政策不采取他们的办法，我们采取有领导的百花齐放、百家争鸣。”

II. Basic Characteristics of Mao Zedong’s Thought on Independence and Self-Reliance in Cultural Construction

二、毛泽东关于文化建设独立自主思想的基本特征

In the practice of leading China’s revolution and construction, Mao Zedong fully recognized the importance of cultural construction. He clearly stated: “Culture is indispensable; no society can be built without culture.” In Mao Zedong’s view, to establish a New Democratic society, independent and self-reliant cultural construction was essential. In the process of leading cultural work, Mao Zedong put forward a series of policy propositions, forming his thought on independence and self-reliance in cultural construction. This thought has the following three distinct characteristics.

在领导中国革命与建设的实践中，毛泽东对文化建设的重要性有着充分的认识。他明确提出：“文化是不可少的，任何社会没有文化就建设不起来。”在毛泽东看来，要建立新民主主义社会，独立自主地开展文化建设是必不可少的。毛泽东在领导开展文化工作的过程中，提出了一系列政策主张，形成了关于文化建设独立自主的思想。其思想主要有以下三个鲜明特征。

(I) Adherence to the Guiding Position of Marxism

（一）坚持马克思主义的指导地位

Marxism is the banner and soul guiding the Communist Party of China in advancing cultural construction. It provides the value coordinates and scientific guide for the CPC’s cultural construction, ensuring that culture always advances in the correct direction during the process of independent exploration. Independence and self-reliance are by no means “a tree without roots or water without a source,” nor are they a self-imposed isolation that abandons principles. When exploring the path of cultural construction, Mao Zedong always adhered to the fundamental guiding ideology of Marxism.

马克思主义是指引中国共产党推进文化建设的旗帜和灵魂，为中国共产党开展文化建设提供了价值坐标和科学指南，确保文化在自主探索的过程中，始终沿着正确方向前进。独立自主绝非“无根之木、无源之水”，更不是放弃原则的自我封闭。毛泽东在探寻文化建设道路时，始终坚持马克思主义这个根本的指导思想。

Marxism provided the CPC with a brand-new conceptual form for carrying out cultural construction. Mao Zedong pointed out: “After the May Fourth Movement, a completely new cultural force emerged in China, that is, the communist cultural ideology led by the Chinese Communists, namely the communist world outlook and the theory of social revolution.” The introduction of communist cultural ideology enabled Mao Zedong and other early revolutionaries to gradually break free from the influence of social trends such as the old Three People’s Principles, liberalism, and anarchism, and turn to exploring the revolutionary path of integrating Marxism with China’s concrete realities. Marxism was not only the fundamental guideline for Mao Zedong and other Chinese Communists in carrying out cultural construction but also an important content to be popularized in cultural education. On this, Mao Zedong pointed out: “As the guiding principle for national culture, it is communist ideology that occupies the guiding position, and we should strive to propagate socialism and communism among the working class, and appropriately and step by step use socialism to educate the peasants and other masses.”

马克思主义为中国共产党开展文化建设提供了崭新的观念形态。毛泽东指出：“在‘五四’以后，中国产生了完全崭新的文化生力军，这就是中国共产党人所领导的共产主义的文化思想，即共产主义的宇宙观和社会革命论。”共产主义文化思想的传入，使得毛泽东等早期革命者逐渐摆脱了对旧三民主义、自由主义、无政府主义等社会思潮的影响，转向探寻将马克思主义与中国具体实际相结合的革命道路。马克思主义既是毛泽东等中国共产党人开展文化建设的根本遵循，也是文化教育中所需要普及的重要内容。对此，毛泽东指出：“当作国民文化的方针来说，居于指导地位的是共产主义的思想，并且我们应当努力在工人阶级中宣传社会主义和共产主义，并适当地有步骤地用社会主义教育农民及其他群众。”

Marxism provided the CPC with the methodology of historical materialism for carrying out cultural construction. Mao Zedong’s thought on independence and self-reliance in cultural construction was inspired by historical materialism, and his view of the May Fourth Movement particularly reflects this. On the one hand, Mao Zedong affirmed the practice of the intellectuals and young students of the May Fourth Movement in “opposing classical Chinese, promoting vernacular Chinese, opposing old dogmas, and advocating science and democracy,” recognizing its progressiveness and revolutionary nature. On the other hand, Mao Zedong also pointed out: “The May Fourth Movement itself also had shortcomings. Many of the leading figures at that time did not yet have the critical spirit of Marxism; the methods they used were generally bourgeois methods, that is, formalist methods.” In Mao Zedong’s view, bourgeois culture “was still blind in the social sciences,” while Marxist dialectical materialism and historical materialism scientifically revealed the laws of development of human society. On this, Mao Zedong pointed out: “Only with the emergence of Marxism did there come to be foresight regarding social development, bringing human understanding of social development to a new stage.”

马克思主义为中国共产党开展文化建设提供了历史唯物主义的方法论。毛泽东关于文化建设独立自主的思想受到了历史唯物主义的启发，他对于五四运动的看法尤其体现了这一点。一方面，毛泽东肯定五四运动的知识分子和青年学生“反对文言文，提倡白话文，反对旧教条，提倡科学和民主”的做法，认可其先进性和革命性。另一方面，毛泽东也指出：“五四运动本身也是有缺点的。那时的许多领导人物，还没有马克思主义的批判精神，他们使用的方法，一般地还是资产阶级的方法，即形式主义的方法。”在毛泽东看来，资产阶级文化“在社会科学方面还是盲目的”，而马克思主义的辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义才科学地揭示了人类社会的发展规律。对此，毛泽东指出：“只有产生了马克思主义，才对社会发展有了预见，使人类对社会发展的认识达到了新的阶段。”

Marxism provided the Chinese Communist Party with the ideological principle of seeking truth from facts in carrying out cultural construction. During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, a dogmatist erroneous tendency once emerged within the CPC. Mao Zedong criticized this, saying: “The way they study Marxism is a direct violation of Marxism… They have violated a basic principle that Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin repeatedly admonished people to follow: the unity of theory and practice.” Mao profoundly recognized that seeking truth from facts is the essence of Marxism, emphasizing that “Marxism must be combined with the specific characteristics of our country and realized through a certain national form.” Consequently, Mao, integrating China’s national conditions, opened up a path of cultural construction different from that of the Soviet Union. In 1957, during a conversation with representatives from literary and art circles, Mao mentioned the dogmatism that emerged after the October Revolution in the Soviet Union, pointing out that “the literary group ‘RAPP’ [10]10 RAPP (Russian Association of Proletarian Writers, 1925–1932) was a Soviet literary organization known for its dogmatic and commandist approach to literature, which Mao cited as a negative example. at that time adopted a commandist approach toward writers, forcing them to write in a certain way,” and stressed that China would not adopt the Soviet Union’s cultural and educational policies.

马克思主义为中国共产党开展文化建设提供了实事求是的思想原则。新民主主义革命时期，中国共产党内曾一度出现教条主义的错误倾向，毛泽东批评道：“他们学马克思主义的方法是直接违反马克思主义的，……他们违背了马克思、恩格斯、列宁、斯大林所谆谆告诫人们的一条基本原则：理论和实际统一。”毛泽东深刻地认识到实事求是是马克思主义的精髓，强调“马克思主义必须和我国的具体特点相结合并通过一定的民族形式才能实现”。因而，毛泽东结合中国国情，开辟了一条有别于苏联的文化建设之路。1957年，毛泽东在同文艺界代表谈话时，就提到了苏联十月革命后的教条主义，指出“那时的文学团体‘拉普’曾经对作家采取命令主义，强迫别人必须怎样写作”，强调不采取苏联的文化教育政策。

(2) Adhering to Absorbing the Excellent Traditional Chinese Culture

（二）坚持吸收中华优秀传统文化

The independent and self-reliant character of Mao’s cultural thought is rooted in his early critical recognition of the excellent traditional Chinese culture. As early as his youth, Mao systematically studied classics such as *The Book of Documents* and *Zuo’s Commentary*, deeply influenced by the excellent traditional Chinese culture. While reading Friedrich Paulsen’s *System of Ethics* and writing annotations on it, Mao took the ancient sages as his models and expressed his aspirations: “My intention is roughly the same as the meaning of the two chapters in Mencius on the ‘vast, flowing passion-nature’ and the ‘great man.’” [11]11 The “vast, flowing passion-nature” (浩然之气) and the “great man” (大丈夫) are concepts from the Confucian philosopher Mencius, representing moral integrity and an unyielding spirit. It can be seen that Mao very early on possessed a spiritual character of ceaseless self-improvement and independence and self-reliance. The excellent traditional Chinese culture profoundly influenced Mao’s mode of thinking and code of conduct, and also provided important intellectual resources for his later propositions on cultural construction.

毛泽东文化思想的独立自主品格，植根于其早年对中华优秀传统文化的批判性体认。早在青少年时期，毛泽东就系统研读了《尚书》《左传》等典籍，深受中华优秀传统文化的熏陶。在阅读泡尔生《伦理学原理》并为之作批注时，毛泽东以古代先贤为榜样，自明心志：“吾之意与孟子所论浩然之气及大丈夫两章之意，大略相同。”可以看出，毛泽东很早就具有了自强不息、独立自主的精神品格。中华优秀传统文化深深地影响了毛泽东的思维方式与行为准则，也为他之后的文化建设主张提供了重要的思想资源。

When carrying out cultural construction during the Yan’an period, Mao placed great importance on studying historical and cultural heritage, particularly emphasizing: “We are Marxist historicists; we should not cut off history. From Confucius to Sun Yat-sen, we should sum it up and inherit this precious legacy.” Regarding those who blindly followed the West in cultural matters and “knew nothing at all about their own history” or “knew very little,” Mao criticized: “They came back from Europe, America, and Japan, only to talk about foreign things without digesting them. They acted like gramophones, forgetting their responsibility to understand new things and create new things.” When discussing specific cultural work, Mao stressed: “We must inherit all the excellent literary and artistic heritage and critically absorb all that is beneficial from it, using it as a reference when we create works from the literary and artistic raw materials in the life of the people here and now.”

延安时期开展文化建设时，毛泽东十分重视对历史文化遗产的学习，特别强调：“我们是马克思主义的历史主义者，我们不应当割断历史。从孔夫子到孙中山，我们应当给以总结，承继这一份珍贵的遗产。”对于在文化上只知盲从西方，“对于自己的历史一点不懂”或“懂得甚少”的人，毛泽东批判道：“他们从欧美日本回来，只知生吞活剥地谈外国。他们起了留声机的作用，忘记了自己认识新鲜事物和创造新鲜事物的责任。”在谈及具体的文化工作时，毛泽东强调：“我们必须继承一切优秀的文学艺术遗产，批判地吸收其中一切有益的东西，作为我们从此时此地的人民生活中的文学艺术原料创造作品时候的借鉴。”

While valuing traditional culture, Mao did not accept it wholesale without reflection but maintained considerable autonomy, critically inheriting the essence of historical heritage. In July 1944, during a conversation with British journalist Gunther Stein, Mao pointed out: “There are many good things in the legacy Chinese history has left us; this is absolutely true. We must turn these legacies into our own things. However, some Chinese people worship old, outdated ideas that are not only inapplicable but also harmful to our China today. Such things must be discarded.” At that time, the aspects of traditional culture that most deeply influenced the masses were their modes of thinking and living habits. In response, Mao stated: “In the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, with a population of 1.5 million, there are still over one million illiterates and two thousand witch doctors, and superstitious ideas still affect the broad masses… We must tell the masses to rise up and fight against their own illiteracy, superstition, and unhygienic habits.” In general, Mao adopted an attitude of critical inheritance toward traditional culture, just as he himself emphasized: “It is neither total rejection nor blind copying, but critical acceptance, in order to facilitate the advancement of China’s new culture.”

毛泽东在重视传统文化的同时，并不是不加思考地全盘接受，而是保持了相当的自主性，批判性继承历史遗产的精华。1944年7月，在同英国记者斯坦因谈话时，毛泽东指出：“中国历史遗留给我们的东西中有很多好东西，这是千真万确的。我们必须把这些遗产变成自己的东西。然而我们中国有些人却崇拜旧的过时的思想，这些思想对于我们今天的中国不仅不适用而且有害。这样的东西必须抛弃。”当时，传统文化影响人民群众最深的就是思维方式和生活习惯。对此，毛泽东指出：“在一百五十万人口的陕甘宁边区内，还有一百多万文盲，两千个巫神，迷信思想还在影响广大的群众。……我们必须告诉群众，自己起来同自己的文盲、迷信和不卫生的习惯作斗争。”总的来说，毛泽东对传统文化持批判性继承的态度，正如他自己所强调的：“既不是一概排斥，也不是盲目搬用，而是批判地接收它，以利于推进中国的新文化。”

While critically inheriting traditional culture, Mao also advocated transforming its backward parts. In response to the situation where the majority of the masses were bound by backward ideas due to their low cultural level, Mao actively promoted the literacy campaign, enabling the masses to gradually abandon superstition and unhygienic habits. Furthermore, Mao also advocated using new culture to transform traditional cultural workers, enabling them to spread new culture and new ideas to the masses. For example, in *On Coalition Government*, Mao pointed out: “Our attitude toward old cultural workers, old educators, and old doctors is to educate them by appropriate methods, enabling them to acquire new viewpoints and new methods and to serve the people.”

毛泽东在批判继承传统文化的同时，还主张对其中落后的部分加以改造。对于多数群众因文化水平低而受落后思想束缚的状况，毛泽东积极推动扫盲运动，使群众逐渐摒弃迷信和不卫生的习惯。此外，毛泽东还主张以新文化来改造传统文化工作者，使他们向人民群众传播新文化、新思想。例如，在《论联合政府》中，毛泽东指出：“对于旧文化工作者、旧教育工作者和旧医生们的态度，是采取适当的方法教育他们，使他们获得新观点、新方法，为人民服务。”

(3) Adhering to the People-Centered Fundamental Stand

（三）坚持以人民为中心的根本立场

The people’s stand is the fundamental political stand of the CPC and a distinctive sign that distinguishes a Marxist party from other parties. From the day of its founding, the CPC has adhered to serving the people wholeheartedly. On this point, Mao once recalled: “In the past, when I was a primary school teacher, I only taught for a living and never thought of forming a Communist Party. The Communist Party was established later only because the people needed it.” In cultural construction, while adhering to independence and self-reliance, Mao also took the fundamental interests of the masses as the starting point and ultimate goal.

人民立场是中国共产党的根本政治立场，是马克思主义政党区别于其他政党的显著标志。中国共产党从成立之日起，就坚持全心全意为人民服务。关于这一点，毛泽东曾回忆：“从前我当小学教员时，只是靠教书吃饭，没有想到要搞共产党，共产党是后来因为人民需要才成立的。”在文化建设上，毛泽东在坚持独立自主的同时，同样将人民群众的根本利益作为出发点和落脚点。

Regarding the subject of cultural creation, Mao insisted that the masses are the main body of cultural construction and cultural innovation and creation. Feudal society harbored the traditional hierarchical concept that “the superior man labors with his mind, while the inferior man labors with his strength,” [12]12 This phrase originates from the Confucian classic *Mencius*, reflecting a traditional hierarchical view of social division of labor. believing that the lower classes could neither create nor enjoy cultural achievements. Mao overturned this traditional concept. In his *Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan*, Mao highly affirmed the peasants’ practice of independently and self-reliantly running night schools and envisioned that “tens of thousands of schools should spring up in the countryside across the province.” When reviewing the history of feudal society, Mao particularly emphasized: “Only the peasants and handicraft workers are the basic classes that create wealth and culture.” In Mao’s view, the production and life of the masses are an important source of cultural creation. He pointed out: “China’s revolutionary writers and artists, writers and artists of promise, must go among the masses; they must for a long period of time unconditionally and wholeheartedly go among the masses of workers, peasants, and soldiers… to observe, experience, study, and analyze all people, all classes, all masses, all vivid forms of life and struggle, and all the raw materials of literature and art, before they can enter the creative process.”

在文化创造的主体上，毛泽东坚持人民群众是文化建设和文化创新创造的主体。封建社会存在“君子劳心，小人劳力”的传统等级观念，认为底层群众不能创造也不能享有文化成果。毛泽东颠覆了这一传统观念。在《湖南农民运动考察报告》中，毛泽东十分肯定农民独立自主办夜学的做法，并设想“全省当有几万所学校在乡村中涌出来”。在回顾封建社会的历史时，毛泽东特别强调：“只有农民和手工业工人是创造财富和创造文化的基本的阶级。”在毛泽东看来，人民群众的生产和生活是文化创造的重要源泉，他指出：“中国的革命的文学家艺术家，有出息的文学家艺术家，必须到群众中去，必须长期地无条件地全心全意地到工农兵群众中去……，观察、体验、研究、分析一切人，一切阶级，一切群众，一切生动的生活形式和斗争形式，一切文学和艺术的原始材料，然后才有可能进入创作过程。”

Regarding the objects of cultural construction’s service, Mao advocated that cultural policies should serve the broad masses of the people. In May 1941, the *New China Daily* published the *Program for the Administration of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region*, mainly drafted by Mao, which called for “continuing to implement the policy of eliminating illiteracy, promoting new script education, improving the regular school system, and universalizing national education,” and proposed a series of cultural policies, including improving the living conditions of primary school teachers, respecting intellectuals, welcoming scientific and artistic talent, protecting refugee students and out-of-school youth, and implementing a two-hour study system for public servants, covering a very wide range of groups. In March 1944, Mao specifically discussed cultural and educational work in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, stating: “There is still much to be done in the cultural sphere, such as organizing literacy groups, singing groups, and writing Spring Festival couplets, and so on.” The targets of activities such as organizing literacy groups, singing groups, and writing Spring Festival couplets were not artists or intellectuals, but the broad grassroots masses lacking cultural education, which fully reflected the people-oriented nature of cultural and educational policies. In October of the same year, Mao further emphasized: “Our culture is the people’s culture; cultural workers must have a high degree of enthusiasm for serving the people, must connect with the masses, and must not detach themselves from the masses.”

在文化建设服务的对象上，毛泽东主张文化政策要服务于广大人民群众。1941年5月，《新中华报》刊发了由毛泽东主要执笔的《陕甘宁边区施政纲领》，要求“继续推行消灭文盲政策，推广新文字教育，健全正规学制，普及国民教育”，并且提出改善小学教员生活、尊重知识分子、欢迎科学艺术人才、保护流亡学生与失学青年、实施公务人员两小时学习制等一系列文化政策，辐射群体十分广泛。1944年3月，毛泽东专门论及陕甘宁边区的文化教育工作，提出：“在文化方面还有很多事要做，要搞识字组，搞唱歌，搞春联，等等。”搞识字组、唱歌、春联等活动的对象并非文艺家或知识分子，而是广大欠缺文化教育的基层群众，这充分体现了文化教育政策的人民性。同年10月，毛泽东进一步强调：“我们的文化是人民的文化，文化工作者必须有为人民服务的高度的热忱，必须联系群众，而不要脱离群众。”

Faced with the national condition in which peasants constituted the overwhelming majority of the population, Mao Zedong particularly emphasized that the focus of cultural popularization should be the broad masses of peasants. In *On Coalition Government*, Mao pointed out: “The peasants — these are the main target of the cultural movement in China at the present stage. If we leave out the 360 million peasants, would not the so-called elimination of illiteracy, the so-called popularization of education, the so-called mass literature and art, and the so-called national health become largely empty talk?” In the early years after the founding of New China, the peasant illiteracy rate was still as high as over 95 percent. In response, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, actively advanced peasant cultural education, implementing in the countryside a policy of running schools through both state and collective efforts — a two-legged approach — and widely establishing rural middle schools and vocational schools, vigorously carrying out literacy campaigns in rural areas. In addition, Mao also proposed that the good things of the Chinese nation “should not be discarded even after ten thousand years,” promoting and developing excellent traditional culture such as Spring Festival couplets, New Year paintings, and traditional opera, while accelerating the spread of modern cultural forms that the peasant masses enjoyed, such as radio and film.

面对农民占绝大多数人口的国情，毛泽东特别强调文化普及的重点是广大农民群众。在《论联合政府》中，毛泽东指出：“农民——这是现阶段中国文化运动的主要对象。所谓扫除文盲，所谓普及教育，所谓大众文艺，所谓国民卫生，离开了三亿六千万农民，岂非大半成了空话？”新中国成立之初，农民文盲率仍高达95%以上。对此，以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人积极推进农民文化教育，在农村实行国家办学与集体办学并举、两条腿走路的方针，并广设乡村中学和职业中学，大力开展农村扫盲。此外，毛泽东还提出，中华民族好的东西“一万年也不要搞掉”，发扬光大春联、年画、戏曲等优秀传统文化，同时加快推广广播、电影等农民群众喜闻乐见的现代文化形式。

III. The Contemporary Value of Mao Zedong’s Thought on Independence and Self-Reliance in Cultural Construction

三、毛泽东关于文化建设独立自主思想的时代价值

The *Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century* clearly states: “Independence and self-reliance are the soul of the Chinese nation and an important principle on which our Party and country are founded.” As the principal founder of the Communist Party of China and the core of the Party’s first generation of central collective leadership, Mao Zedong made foundational contributions to carrying out cultural construction independently and self-reliantly. Mao Zedong’s thought on independence and self-reliance in cultural construction is an important component of Mao Zedong Thought, providing the theoretical basis for cultural construction during the periods of the New Democratic Revolution and socialist revolution and construction, and offering important practical inspiration for continuing to advance the Party’s cultural undertakings in the New Era.

《中共中央关于党的百年奋斗重大成就和历史经验的决议》明确指出：“独立自主是中华民族精神之魂，是我们立党立国的重要原则。”作为中国共产党的主要缔造者和党的第一代中央领导集体的核心，毛泽东对独立自主地开展文化建设作出了奠基性贡献。毛泽东关于文化建设独立自主的思想是毛泽东思想的重要组成部分，为新民主主义革命时期、社会主义革命和建设时期开展文化建设提供了理论基础，对于新时代继续推进党的文化事业，具有重要的现实启示。

(1) Cultural Construction in the New Era Must Uphold the Party’s Cultural Leadership

（一）新时代文化建设必须坚持党的文化领导权

Although Mao Zedong did not explicitly put forward the concept of “cultural leadership,” his cultural theory contains rich ideas on cultural leadership. In Mao’s view, leadership over ideological work was extremely important. As early as November 1928, Mao stated: “The question of leadership by proletarian ideology is a very important question.” [13]13 This quotation is from Mao Zedong’s “The Struggle in the Jinggang Mountains” (November 1928). Thereafter, Mao’s understanding of the importance of cultural leadership continuously deepened. In 1945, Mao emphasized at the Seventh National Congress of the Party: “Grasping ideological education is the central link in uniting the entire Party for great political struggle.”

毛泽东虽未明确提出“文化领导权”这一概念，但他的文化理论中蕴含着丰富的文化领导权的思想。在毛泽东看来，意识形态工作领导权十分重要。早在1928年11月，毛泽东就提出：“无产阶级思想领导的问题，是一个非常重要的问题。”之后，毛泽东对文化领导权重要性的认识不断提高。1945年，毛泽东在党的七大上强调：“掌握思想教育，是团结全党进行伟大政治斗争的中心环节。”

Mao Zedong deeply recognized that the core of cultural leadership lies in the broad recognition of the Party’s ideology by the people. He pointed out: “So-called leadership is not to shout it as a slogan all day long, nor is it to arrogantly demand that others obey us, but rather, through the Party’s correct policies and our own exemplary work, to persuade and educate non-Party people so that they are willing to accept our proposals.” During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, Mao rallied people’s hearts by proposing a “national, scientific, and mass culture,” making Marxism a weapon of thought for uniting the broad masses of the people. Practice has proven that cultural leadership is an important political advantage of the Party, a vital pathway for凝聚思想共识 [14]14 The Chinese phrase 凝聚思想共识 (níngjù sīxiǎng gòngshí) means “to consolidate ideological consensus.” and stimulating cultural vitality, and an important guarantee for the Party to lead the people in overcoming difficulties and obstacles on the path of revolution and construction.

毛泽东深刻认识到，文化领导权的核心在于民众对党的意识形态的广泛认同。他指出：“所谓领导权，不是要一天到晚当作口号去高喊，也不是盛气凌人地要人家服从我们，而是以党的正确政策和自己的模范工作，说服和教育党外人士，使他们愿意接受我们的建议。”在新民主主义革命时期，毛泽东通过提出“民族的科学的大众的文化”凝聚人心，使得马克思主义成为团结广大人民群众的思想武器。实践证明，文化领导权是党的重要政治优势，是凝聚思想共识、激发文化活力的重要途径，是党领导人民战胜革命和建设道路上艰难险阻的重要保障。

Xi Jinping points out: “The Party’s leadership is the fundamental guarantee for the development of socialist literature and art.” Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Communist Party of China has placed the leadership over ideological work in an extremely important position. In this regard, Xi Jinping emphasizes: “The leadership, management, and discursive power over ideological work must be firmly grasped in our hands, and must never be relinquished at any time; otherwise, we will make irreparable historical mistakes.” Since the New Era, under the Party’s leadership, a series of relevant policy documents have been successively issued, such as the *Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Propaganda Work*, the *Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Prospering and Developing Socialist Literature and Art*, and the *Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Online Civilization*, providing safeguards for consolidating the Party’s ideological leadership and ensuring the healthy and orderly development of cultural undertakings.

习近平指出：“党的领导是社会主义文艺发展的根本保证。”党的十八大以来，中国共产党把意识形态工作领导权摆在了极端重要的位置。对此，习近平强调：“必须把意识形态工作的领导权、管理权、话语权牢牢掌握在手中，任何时候都不能旁落，否则就要犯无可挽回的历史性错误。”新时代以来，在党的领导下先后出台了《中国共产党宣传工作条例》《中共中央关于繁荣发展社会主义文艺的意见》《关于加强网络文明建设的意见》等一系列相关政策文件，为巩固党的意识形态领导权、确保文化事业健康有序发展保驾护航。

In June 2023, at the Symposium on Cultural Heritage and Development, Xi Jinping further explicitly put forward the concept of “the cultural leadership of the Communist Party of China.” On the new journey of the New Era, we must deeply understand the significance of upholding the Party’s cultural leadership, arm ourselves theoretically with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, incorporate cultural leadership into the overall layout of the modernization of national governance, form a synergy in cultural governance, and promote the prosperity and flourishing of socialist cultural undertakings.

2023年6月，习近平在文化传承发展座谈会上进一步明确提出“中国共产党的文化领导权”概念。新时代新征程，我们要深刻认识坚持党的文化领导权的重要意义，以习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想为理论武装，将文化领导权纳入国家治理现代化总体布局，形成文化治理合力，推动社会主义文化事业繁荣昌盛。

(2) Promoting the Development of Cultural Undertakings in the New Era through the “Two Integrations”

（二）以“两个结合”推动新时代文化事业发展

Mao Zedong’s thought on independence and self-reliance in cultural construction not only emphasizes the Party’s leadership over culture but also pays greater attention to integrating the basic principles of Marxism with China’s specific realities. The “First Integration” is the theoretical and practical crystallization of Mao and others. During the Agrarian Revolutionary War period, based on China’s semi-colonial and semi-feudal social nature, Mao proposed the revolutionary path of “encircling the cities from the countryside,” integrating Marxist class struggle theory with China’s peasant problem. He criticized Wang Ming and others for their tendency to “always quote Marx and Lenin” divorced from reality, emphasizing that “no investigation, no right to speak,” and demanding that theory must serve the actual needs of China’s revolution. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Mao further extended the “First Integration” to the cultural field. In *On New Democracy*, Mao proposed that in dealing with traditional culture, one should “discard its feudal dross and absorb its democratic essence,” and advocated analyzing cultural heritage with materialist dialectics.

毛泽东关于文化建设独立自主的思想不仅强调党对文化的领导权，更注重将马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际相结合。“第一个结合”是毛泽东等人的理论和实践结晶。土地革命战争时期，毛泽东基于中国半殖民地半封建的社会性质，提出“农村包围城市”的革命道路，将马克思主义阶级斗争理论与中国的农民问题相结合。他批判王明等人“言必称马列”的脱离实际倾向，强调“没有调查，没有发言权”，要求理论必须服务于中国革命的实际需要。抗日战争时期，毛泽东进一步将“第一个结合”拓展至文化领域。在《新民主主义论》中，毛泽东提出对待传统文化要“剔除其封建性的糟粕，吸收其民主性的精华”，并主张以唯物辩证法分析文化遗产。

During this period, although Mao did not explicitly put forward the proposition of “integrating Marxism with China’s excellent traditional culture,” his cultural thought already embodied the internal logic of the “Second Integration.” For example, Mao connected Marxist philosophical works such as *On Practice* and *On Contradiction* with traditional Chinese views on knowledge and action and dialectical thought, transforming profound theory into “Chinese discourse” understandable to the masses. In the practice of cultural construction, Mao promoted the integration of elements of traditional culture with practical needs. During the cultural construction in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, a series of measures were adopted, such as transforming northern Shaanxi folk storytelling into a tool for revolutionary propaganda and transforming the legend of the “White-Haired Fairy Maiden” into revolutionary operas like *The White-Haired Girl*, achieving innovative development in cultural form and content. After the founding of New China, Mao repeatedly stated his “emphasis on national things,” demanding that on this basis, “China should create its own things with a unique national style.”

这一时期，毛泽东虽未明确提出“马克思主义与中华优秀传统文化相结合”的命题，但其文化思想中已体现“第二个结合”的内在逻辑。例如，毛泽东将《实践论》《矛盾论》等马克思主义哲学著作与中国传统知行观、辩证法思想相贯通，使深奥的理论转化为群众可理解的“中国话语”。而在文化建设的实践中，毛泽东推动传统文化元素与现实需要相融合。陕甘宁边区的文化建设过程中，采取了一系列措施，如改造陕北民间说书为革命宣传工具，将“白毛仙姑”的传说改造为《白毛女》等革命戏曲，实现了文化形式和内容的创新性发展。新中国成立后，毛泽东多次表态“重视民族的东西”，要求在此基础上“创造出中国自己的、有独特的民族风格的东西”。

Since the New Era, Xi Jinping, on the basis of profoundly revealing the theoretical material foundation for the innovative development of Marxism in China, creatively put forward the major thesis of the “Two Integrations.” If Mao Zedong emphasized the “critical inheritance” of traditional culture, then the “Two Integrations” place greater emphasis on the convergence of the basic principles of Marxism with the spiritual core of China’s excellent traditional culture. For example, integrating “the world is for all” with the communist ideal, “the unity of knowledge and action” with the theory of practice and epistemology, and “harmonious coexistence” with the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind has achieved the value sublimation of China’s excellent traditional culture. Xi Jinping points out: “The ‘Second Integration’ makes Marxism Chinese and China’s excellent traditional culture modern, and makes the new culture formed through ‘integration’ the cultural form of Chinese-path modernization.” Today, when cultural soft power is increasingly becoming an element of international competitiveness, we must not only adhere to the principle of “making the past serve the present and foreign things serve China,” but also, in response to the changes of the times, carry out “creative transformation and innovative development,” providing new cultural forms for consolidating the spiritual home of the Chinese nation and promoting the progress of human civilization.

新时代以来，习近平在深刻揭示马克思主义在中国创新发展理论物质基础上，创造性提出了“两个结合”重大论断。如果说毛泽东强调的是对传统文化的“批判继承”，那么“两个结合”则更强调马克思主义基本原理同中华优秀传统文化在精神内核上的契合。例如，将“天下为公”与共产主义理想、“知行合一”与实践认识论、“和合共生”与人类命运共同体理念相结合，实现了中华优秀传统文化的价值升华。习近平指出：“‘第二个结合’让马克思主义成为中国的，中华优秀传统文化成为现代的，让经由‘结合’而形成的新文化成为中国式现代化的文化形态。”在文化软实力日益成为国际竞争力的今天，我们不仅要坚持“古为今用、洋为中用”的原则，更要因应时代变化进行“创造性转化、创新性发展”，为筑牢中华民族精神家园、推动人类文明进步提供新的文化形态。

(3) Constantly Proposing New Cultural Missions in Accordance with Changes in the Times

（三）根据时代变化不断提出新的文化使命

Mao Zedong’s thought on independence and self-reliance in cultural construction always adhered to a problem-oriented approach, emphasizing that cultural missions must respond to the needs of the times. During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, the main task facing the Party was to oppose imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism, to strive for national independence and the liberation of the people, and to create the fundamental social conditions for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Under this requirement of the times, Mao Zedong proposed that the core task of the cultural front was to defeat imperialist culture and semi-feudal culture and to establish an anti-imperialist and anti-feudal New Democratic culture. In the early days of the founding of New China, the main task facing the Party was to realize the transition from New Democracy to socialism, to carry out the socialist revolution, and to advance socialist construction. Facing the feudal culture and comprador culture left over from the old society, Mao Zedong put forward a series of proposals for cultural transformation. On the one hand, measures such as the ideological remolding campaign [15]15 The ideological remolding campaign (思想改造运动) refers to a series of political movements in the early 1950s aimed at re-educating intellectuals and cadres in Marxist-Leninist and Mao Zedong Thought, often involving criticism and self-criticism. were adopted to eliminate feudal remnants and decadent bourgeois culture. On the other hand, the policy of “letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend” [16]16 “Letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend” (百花齐放，百家争鸣) was a policy announced by Mao Zedong in 1956 to encourage open debate and artistic diversity within the framework of socialism, though it was later curtailed during the Anti-Rightist Campaign. was proposed to stimulate cultural vitality and creativity in service of socialist construction. During this period, the Party’s cultural mission was focused on consolidating the newly established political power, shaping the new socialist person, and serving socialist construction.

毛泽东关于文化建设的独立自主思想始终坚持以问题为导向，强调文化使命必须回应时代需求。新民主主义革命时期，党面临的主要任务是，反对帝国主义、封建主义、官僚资本主义，争取民族独立、人民解放，为实现中华民族伟大复兴创造根本社会条件。在这种时代要求下，毛泽东提出文化战线的核心任务是打倒帝国主义文化和半封建文化，建立反帝反封建的新民主主义文化。新中国成立初期，党面临的主要任务是实现从新民主主义到社会主义的转变，进行社会主义革命，推进社会主义建设。面对旧社会遗留的封建文化、买办文化，毛泽东提出了一系列文化改造的主张。一方面，通过思想改造运动等措施清除封建残余和资产阶级腐朽文化。另一方面，提出“百花齐放，百家争鸣”方针，激发文化活力和创造力服务于社会主义建设。这一时期党的文化使命聚焦于巩固新生政权，塑造社会主义新人，服务社会主义建设。

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Communist Party of China, based on changes in the national conditions, has endowed cultural work with new historical tasks. Xi Jinping clearly stated: “Continuing to promote cultural prosperity, build a strong cultural country, and construct the modern civilization of the Chinese nation from a new starting point is our new cultural mission in the New Era.” [17]17 This quotation is from Xi Jinping’s speech at a symposium on cultural heritage and development in 2023, as part of the formulation of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. This assertion has pointed the direction and provided the fundamental guidance for cultural construction in the New Era. Facing the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development, the Party Central Committee has incorporated cultural construction into the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan, developed cultural undertakings and industries, provided public cultural services, established a comprehensive governance system for online culture, fortified the front of ideological work, and creatively proposed signature concepts such as “a community with a shared future for mankind” and “common values of all mankind.” Cultural construction has achieved historic accomplishments and undergone historic transformations.

党的十八大以来，中国共产党立足于国情变化，赋予文化工作新的历史任务。习近平明确指出：“在新的起点上继续推动文化繁荣、建设文化强国、建设中华民族现代文明，是我们在新时代新的文化使命。”这一论断为新时代文化建设指明了方向，提供了根本遵循。面对人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾，党中央将文化建设纳入“五位一体”总体布局之中，发展文化事业产业，提供文化公共服务，建立网络文化综合治理体系，筑牢意识形态工作阵地，创造性提出“人类命运共同体”“全人类共同价值”等标识性概念，文化建设事业取得历史性成就、发生历史性变革。

From the founding of the Party to the present day, the Communist Party of China has always endowed cultural work with new missions through a spirit of historical initiative. On the new journey of the New Era, it is necessary to be guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, [18]18 Xi Jinping Thought on Culture (习近平文化思想) is a component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, formally articulated at a national conference on propaganda, ideology, and culture in October 2023, emphasizing cultural confidence and the construction of a modern Chinese civilization. to base ourselves on the historical experience of the Two Integrations, to accurately grasp the overall strategy of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the changes unseen in a century in the world, and, while adhering to cultural subjectivity, to follow the historical trend of the technological revolution and mutual learning among civilizations, to construct the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, and to answer the era’s questionnaire on the cultural mission.

从建党之初到今天，中国共产党始终以历史主动精神赋予文化工作新的使命。新时代新征程上，需要以习近平文化思想为指导，立足“两个结合”的历史经验，准确把握中华民族伟大复兴战略全局和世界百年未有之大变局，在坚守文化主体性的前提下，顺应科技革命与文明互鉴的历史潮流，建设中华民族现代文明，回答好文化使命的时代问卷。